Truths Unfold
by angel74
Summary: Frustrated by their lack of progress in finding the demon that turns Wyatt, the Charmed Ones decide to cast a spell to find the demon responsible. What happens next is something they could have never have imagined. A Chris revelation fic .
1. A Spell Backfires

**Truths Unfold**

**By:** angel74

**Summary:** [AU] This story takes place during season six and is set after "Prince Charmed." The girls know that Wyatt is evil in the future, but they don't know Chris's identity. Frustrated by their lack of progress in finding the demon that turns Wyatt, the Charmed Ones decide to cast a spell to find the demon responsible. What happens next is something they could have never have imagined.

**Disclaimer: **I have decided to say this _once_, and only once instead of posting it for every chapter. I do not own Charmed or any of the characters. I only want to play in their world. I intend this story to be merely for pleasure, not profit.

**Genre:** Angst/Family

**Rating:** M (just in case).

**Warnings:** This fic is what I like to call the "darker side" of Charmed. There may be some potentially disturbing themes during this story, but I don't want to give too much away now. Don't worry, most of it will be implied instead of going into graphic detail.

**

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****Chapter 1- A Spell Backfires**

Piper gently set her son down in his crib and covered him with his soft blue blanket. She watched over him for a few moments as Wyatt lay sleeping, her heart heavy with the knowledge of what she had learned only days ago. He was so beautiful and peaceful; it was hard to imagine the bleak future that Chris had revealed to them.

"_T__he only reason I came here was to keep Wyatt from turning evil… He's gonna grow up and terrorize people with his powers; take over. Kill even,"_ Chris had said.

Piper couldn't imagine how any of that was even possible, but she was determined now more than ever to stop it. Chris obviously didn't know what had happened to Wyatt to turn him evil, and he really hadn't offered any strategy for figuring it out other than vanquishing every possible demon threat. So Piper had resolved to figure it out herself.

Grabbing the baby monitor on the dresser, she quietly walked out into the hallway and headed upstairs to where she had left Phoebe and Paige. It had taken quite a bit of convincing, but they had both agreed to take the afternoon off work to help her. The threesome had spent the better part of the day brainstorming ways that they could save Wyatt and in the end came up with only one solution. They needed to write a spell that would specifically ask the powers that be to help them in this matter.

Her younger sisters both looked up from the table they were working at when she entered the attic. "How's it going?" Piper asked hopefully.

"We finished the spell, but I honestly don't know if it will work," Phoebe admitted. Both she and Paige looked as though they still had some reservations about what they were about to do.

Piper held out her hand for the spell. "Let me see it."

Paige handed it to her and Piper looked it over critically. It was a pretty decent spell, and she hoped that it would cause the Book of Shadows to flip to the demon that was after Wyatt. She couldn't see anything necessarily wrong with it, but she knew that no matter how well the spell was written that there was always the potential for it to backfire.

"Looks good," Piper admitted. "Let's do this."

Phoebe and Paige followed their older sister over to the podium where the Book of Shadows lay open. They all stood behind it, prepared to read the spell. Piper couldn't help but notice that Paige and Phoebe still seemed hesitant. They cast each other a look of uncertainty and she felt herself growing annoyed.

"Are we going to read the spell or not?" she asked. When neither one answered her right away, she decided that she may as well read the spell on her own if they weren't going to help her. Before she could begin, however, Paige reached over and took the spell back from Piper.

"Paige, what are you doing?" Piper asked irritably.

"Should we really be doing this? Isn't this like personal gain?"

"No," Piper replied quickly.

"But Piper, it _is_ personal gain," said Phoebe. "You know it is. This kind of thing never works the way we expect it to and there's bound to be some kind of backlash."

"Well, so what if it is personal gain? After all we have done, don't we deserve a few answers," Piper argued. "_I'm_ willing to take on the consequences if it means saving Wyatt. Aren't you?"

Paige and Phoebe both sighed and nodded in agreement. There isn't anything they wouldn't do to protect their little nephew.

Sighing loudly, Paige added, "I still think we should tell Chris about this. He is, after all, the one who came to the past to warn us about evil getting to Wyatt."

Piper turned on her and said, "Don't you mean Wyatt turning evil?" She still wasn't handling this information very well and was prone to snapping at everyone in her frustration over it.

"Well, yeah… but doesn't Chris have a right to know about the spell? He could even be of some help," Paige explained.

Phoebe shook her head. "Chris would never agree to this. As unconventional as he is, he still would never agree to a spell for personal gain."

"Well, what about Leo?" Paige continued. "Wyatt's his son, shouldn't he know about this."

"He wouldn't agree to this either," Piper interjected.

"But still…"

"Paige, why are you so opposed to this? Evil is what is responsible for turning Wyatt, so why can't magic help us find out what causes it?"

"I'm not opposed," Paige said quickly, holding up her hands to placate her sister. "I was just saying…"

"Let's just do this," Phoebe suggested, knowing that they could stand here all day and bicker over the details.

Paige handed the spell back to Piper, who was standing in the middle. The three sisters took a deep breath and began to chant,

"_Innocence corrupted, __A good witch turned, __Protecting Wyatt is what we yearn. __A future of darkness will come to be, __Reveal the evil responsible to me."_

They watched the Book of Shadows expectantly, but nothing happened. Not even a page had turned.

"Why didn't that work?" Piper said sadly. "I was so sure that was going to work."

"I had a feeling that it wouldn't," Phoebe muttered.

Piper shot her a dirty look and said, "I don't want to hear 'I told you so." I just want-"

Before she could finish what she was saying a swirl of bright yellow lights filled the attic, nearly blinding them. It was over almost quickly as it had begun.

"Okay, what just happened?" Piper asked.

"I don't know-" Phoebe began.

"Look!" Paige shouted, pointing to a man's still form lying crumpled on the rug in front of the old couch. They had been so blinded by the lights that they hadn't noticed him being deposited on the attic floor.

"Did the spell bring him here?" Piper asked in confusion, suddenly feeling very afraid. If this was the person responsible for turning Wyatt there was no telling how powerful he was. Her fingers twitched anxiously by her sides, ready to blow him up at a moments notice.

"Do you think he's friend of foe?" Phoebe asked, taking in his haggard appearance. "He doesn't exactly look like a demon."

The man looked as though he could have been homeless. His denim jeans and blue button-down shirt could hardly be distinguished under the level of dirt and grime covering them, not to mention that it was frayed from obvious years of use. He was thin, painfully so, and his hair was as dirty and unkempt as the rest of him.

"Well, neither did a lot of other demons we've gone up against. We better play it safe. Paige could you place some crystals around him," instructed Piper.

Paige nodded and gestured towards the bookshelves where they kept the crystals and then towards their unexpected guest. "Crystals… circle!"

The white crystals flew to the floor in a circular pattern and then glowed once, signaling the magical cage was in place. Phoebe grabbed some vanquishing potions from a nearby table just in case. Confident that they wouldn't come to any harm while questioning him, Piper stepped forward to see if they could figure out why the spell had brought this person here.

"Um, excuse me…. Hello!" Piper called loudly. She smirked when the man stirred slightly and seemed to roll over in his sleep. "Yeah, you! We have some questions…"

"Leave me alone," the man mumbled, his voice cracking from apparent lack of use. "I'm tired of these games."

"Yeah, see I'm not going to do that," she continued. "I need to talk to you. So if you don't mind sitting up…"

The man sighed wearily and gingerly pushed himself up to a seated position. Finally, he raised his eyes to look at them properly and Piper gasped in shock.

"_LEO?"_

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A/N: Please leave a review if you like the story so far!


	2. Seeing Double

A/N: Many thanks to my new beta Alcandre for all her helpful suggestions!

**Chapter 2- Seeing Double**

LEO's eyes gazed into Piper's own for a brief moment. Within those pale blue-green depths Piper saw a magnitude of pain and sorrow she could have never fathomed possible. Her heart clenched at the sight of her ex-husband looking so distraught and disheveled, and all of her carefully erected walls came crashing down.

He looked away tiredly, brought his knees up to his chest, and buried his head in his arms. "Just leave me alone…" he moaned pitifully.

Collapsing to her knees, she reached out for the nearest crystal and removed it. The crystal cage deactivated in a flash and she crawled the short distance to her ex-husband, fearful of what had caused him to arrive in such a state.

"Leo? Honey… what happened to you?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears.

Before she could reach him, he held up a hand to stop her, still not looking at her. "Don't!"

"Don't what? Are you okay?" she asked, reaching her hand out to his shoulder.

He flinched causing her hand to fall off his shoulder. He then scooted away from her, almost fearfully, and resumed his position curled up in a ball. "What you are doing is sick! Stop messing with me…"

Piper looked up to her sisters for guidance realizing that she wasn't getting through to him for some reason. "What's wrong with him? It's like he doesn't recognize me!"

Phoebe helped Piper to her feet and gently said, "Sweetie, I don't think that this is Leo…"

"What? Of course it is!"

Paige walked around the man carefully trying to take in his appearance. "I don't know. It looks like Leo, but what if it's a demon or a shape shifter or something. This could be a trap."

Piper shook her head. "This is Leo, I know it somehow. But what could have happened to him? I just saw him this morning," she said mournfully.

The man hadn't moved during the conversation and seemed intent at trying to ignore them. Phoebe squatted down to look at LEO properly, a vanquishing potion still held firmly in her hand. Something seemed off about this whole situation, and she knew without a doubt that it had to be because of the spell. Suddenly she was hit by an onslaught of emotions and had to take a few steps back, not wanting them to overwhelm her.

"What is it?" asked Paige, noticing her sister's reaction.

"He's afraid of us," Phoebe explained, using her empathic senses. She shivered slightly as she channeled the trembling fear the man was projecting. "He sees us as a threat."

"Why would Leo be afraid of us?" asked Piper, still staring at the man that so resembled her ex-husband.

Paige crinkled her nose and said, "Are we even sure that it is Leo?"

"I think he is Leo, but maybe just from another time," Phoebe suddenly suggested.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked irritably.

"I don't know," she responded with a shrug. "It's just a feeling I have."

"Did you have a premonition or something?"

"Well no. I don't know how to explain it," said Phoebe. "But it would make some sense."

"Well you better try because if you know what's going on, I sure as hell would like to hear it," said Piper, growing more irritable by the second.

Phoebe held up her hands in defense. "Piper, calm down… I'm just saying that there is no way that this is _our_ Leo, at least not from our time. He's much thinner than our Leo and something just seems different about him. Don't you see it?"

Paige nodded. "Phoebe's right. I think-" she began, but was cut off by the sound of laughing.

Surprised by the sudden noise the girls looked down to see the man, grimacing in a sick sort of smile. "Well done… you practically have me convinced," he said, still laughing somewhat manically.

"Convinced of what?" asked Piper.

"That you really could be the Charmed Ones… But I'm not falling for it. Not this time," he said, shakily rising to his feet. It seemed his fear had given way to irritation. "So leave me in peace!"

"This is our attic so we're not going anywhere, mister," said Paige, putting her hands on her hips.

LEO looked around and took in his surroundings. He then began to shake his head sadly. Shouting towards the ceiling he said, "You've really out done yourself this time!"

"Um… who is he talking to?" Paige whispered to her sisters.

"Why don't you just come down here and show yourself!" LEO shouted.

"Who are you talking to?" Phoebe asked him, looking quite concerned. This was not the behavior of a sane man.

"Like you don't know," LEO said, addressing them once more. "He's the one that sent you demons to create this stupid illusion."

"Demons? He thinks we're _demons_?" said Paige.

"Did you really think that you could break me!" LEO resumed shouting up to someone. "I told you before... I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU! Just KILL ME and be done with it. I'm sick of your psychological torture! How many years are we going to play these games!"

"Is he talking to the elders?" Phoebe wondered aloud, thinking about how LEO was staring at the ceiling.

"Elders?" LEO asked, turning his attention back to them again. "All the elders are dead. You should know that. Your source killed them all…"

"No they're not. In fact you just left a few hours ago to commune with them or something," Piper said.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," she said defiantly. "You left to talk to the elders."

"No I didn't. I've haven't left my cell in... I don't know how long…"

"Well Leo did. So if you are not him, then who are you?"

"What are you talking about?" LEO asked in confusion, looking at the three of them one at a time. "Are the elders really alive?"

"They are in this time," said Phoebe.

"What do you mean?"

"We think you traveled back in time," she began to explain. "We wrote a spell and it brought you here."

"A spell?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. "You mean this isn't 2025?"

All three girls shook their heads. "No. This is 2003," Phoebe offered. "And you are standing in our attic, not some cell."

"This is really the attic? And you're really the Charmed Ones?" LEO asked in disbelief. His eyes were frantically looking around, as if making sure someone wasn't going to ambush him.

They all nodded again, trying to gauge his response.

LEO crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "I don't believe you. This is just some trick."

"Well, if you really are Leo, ask me something only I would know," Piper challenged.

LEO thought about this for a few moments. "Alright. What happened the first time we made love?" he asked cautiously, his eyes still searching attic, though not really seeing.

Piper was obviously surprised by the question. She hadn't expected that one. She darted her eyes away embarrassment thinking about her response. "I was so nervous, I kept freezing you," she said finally, blushing deeply when she heard Paige stifle a giggle.

LEO's mouth dropped open in shock. "You really are Piper…" he whispered.

She nodded again, starting to feel a bit like a bobble head with all of this nodding and head shaking.

"Then that means…"

Realization seemed to suddenly dawn on LEO, because he seemed to lose all composure. Soon tears were streaming down his face. Turning away from them he began to mutter to himself as he paced around the attic anxiously, snippets of which the girls were barely able to hear_. "I can't believe this is happening… I'm not in the cave anymore… could this really be happening… there could be consequences if I reveal to much… they're really here… what am I going to do…"_

"Do you think he's alright?" Phoebe wondered aloud. "He seems to talk to himself a lot."

"I don't know," said Paige. "Can you get another reading off of him?"

Phoebe took a step forward trying to sense the man's emotions. "Only the obvious… that he's really upset about being here. He's feeling sad and lost and depressed."

"Why would Leo be depressed?" Piper inquired.

"We don't even know if it's really Leo," argued Paige again. "Just 'cause he asked Piper about their night time affairs doesn't make him our Leo."

"Can you sense if it's really him?"

"No, you know I can't," Paige replied in an annoyed tone. "Is there any other way to know for sure?"

"Well, I can think of one way. Leo!" Piper shouted to the ceiling, waiting expectantly. "_Leo! You better get your Elder butt down here right now!"_

After a few moments Leo orbed into the attic in a blur of white and blue lights. "Piper, you know you can't just call me whenever…"

"Oh, cut the crap! We need your help," she said, pointing to the other LEO.

It was strange having two Leo's in the attic. It was like seeing double. If you excluded the future version's apparent lack of hygiene, they were nearly identical, except for a few subtle differences. The future version seemed thinner and slightly older than his counterpart for some reason.

"Who's that?" Leo inquired.

"You, we think," said Paige. "But from the future."

Leo looked at the man in surprise. "But how?"

"It doesn't matter. We need to figure out if he is a threat. Can you sense yourself or not?" asked Piper.

"I've never tried…" Leo began. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. When he opened them again he said, "Far as I can tell, he's me... or will be me, I guess…What year is he from?"

"2025," Piper responded.

The other LEO was ignoring them still, pacing around the attic trying to avoid eye contact with them, muttering to himself. His tears had stopped, but he was just as distraught as ever.

Leo looked at his future self with bewilderment. "What is wrong with me? I mean him?"

"We don't know. He's been like this since he arrived," Piper admitted sadly.

"And how exactly did he get here?" Leo asked, looking to each of the girls knowingly.

"We might have cast a little spell," Paige admitted, cracking under Leo's scrutiny.

"What kind of spell?"

"One that would tell us who turns Wyatt evil," explained Phoebe.

"But that's personal gain!" Leo admonished them, looking as though he was about to launch into one of his lectures.

"Don't waste your breath," said Piper bitingly. "We knew the consequences before going into this, and we willingly accepted them. We just didn't realize that this would happen."

"Do you think he really knows who turns Wyatt?" Paige asked. "Cause he doesn't exactly seem right in the head, if you know what I mean."

"I don't know," said the eldest sister, looking at the distraught man. The other Leo was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even seem to notice that his present self was standing in the room with him. "What should we do?"

"Talk to him," Leo suggested. "If anyone can get through to me, you can."

Piper looked into Leo's eyes and knew how much that was still true, even if they weren't together anymore. She carefully walked towards LEO and tried to catch his gaze.

"LEO? LEO?" she called. He tried to walk away from her, but she reached out and caught his hand.

She was surprised to find it so calloused and rough, but she held onto it tightly. She gave it a squeeze and the small action seemed to break LEO from whatever trance he was in. He turned to her and stared at her searchingly, as if really seeing her for the first time. "LEO? It's me Piper… do you remember me?"

LEO took a shuddering breath and whispered, "Of course I remember you. How could I not? You're the love of my life…"

She was somewhat surprised to hear this given that she and the present Leo were currently separated because he had chosen to become an elder.

"Then why are trying to ignore us," she said gently. "What's wrong?"

"You wouldn't understand," he said, looking into her eyes one more. Again she was shocked by the depth of pain and sorrow she saw in his steadfast gaze. "You couldn't possibly..."

"Then make me understand," she implored.

"I can't," he said miserably, his eyes filling with tears once more. "Too much has happened." He closed his eyes and bowed his head in despair.

Unable to bear seeing him in so much pain, Piper pulled him into an embrace and held onto him as he began to sob mournfully. It was the first time she truly allowed herself to believe that the future could possibly be as awful as Chris had made it out to be. He seemed so weak that Piper feared that he might topple them both over if he leaned his full weight onto her any further. She held onto him for several minutes before he finally pulled away and roughly brushed away his tears.

"I'm sorry… this is just a lot for me to take in," he explained as he tried to compose himself. "I'm not sure if I can handle all of this."

"It's alright," Piper said softly, as she led him over to the couch. They sat down beside each other as her sisters and Leo joined them. "Tell me what's happened."

"I can't," LEO replied, shaking his head firmly.

"But you have to," she implored.

LEO shook his head once more. "I can't," he repeated. "There could be consequences if I revealed too much about the future."

"Not you too," Piper said in frustration. "I have had about enough of this future consequence crap. First Chris and now you!"

"Chris?" LEO asked in surprise.

Ignoring him, Paige added, "Yeah, what good is a spell if the person that it sends to help you with your problem won't tell you the solution."

"Chris?" LEO asked again hoarsely.

"Well, what do we do?" asked Phoebe. "We can't force LEO to tell us anything he doesn't want to."

"Maybe we should tell Chris what is going on? Maybe the spell brought LEO here for a different reason," Paige suggested.

LEO cleared his throat and finally made himself heard. "Chris is here? In the past?"

"Yeah," Phoebe affirmed with nod. "Do you know Chris Perry in the future or something?"

LEO gave her a curious look before standing up and walking away, muttering to himself once more.

Paige rolled her eyes and said, "Here we go again!"

"_There were rumors… I didn't know what to think…"_ LEO began, looking distraught.

"LEO, are you okay?" Piper tried calling out to him. "What's wrong?"

LEO closed his eyes and took a deep breath before addressing them once more.

"Chris is really here? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, he's our whitelighter. Why?" Piper asked.

"I need to talk to him," LEO said determinedly, his eyes shining with emotion. "Now."

The Charmed Ones looked at on in another in bewilderment. This day was getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

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A/N: I hope it wasn't too confusing having both Leo's in the story. Just to clarify, future Leo will always be signified by capital letters- _LEO. _Please leave a review!


	3. A Shocking Discovery

A/N: I ended up changing the year that Leo was from in Chapter 2. He is now from 2025, not 2023. I realized my own mistake after I posted. I guess it doesn't really matter, but the change fits my timeline better. This will make Chris 22 in this story.

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**Chapter 3- Shocking Discovery**

"How do you know Chris?" Leo asked his future counterpart curiously.

"It doesn't matter. I just need to talk to him," LEO repeated.

"So call him yourself," said Paige, feeling confused. If he already knew Chris, then why would he need one of them to call him?

"I'm not sure he'd come if I called," he explained a bit impatiently.

Piper sighed and called for their whitelighter. "Chris? Chris we need you!"

It took only a matter of seconds for Chris to orb into the manor. "What is it? Was there an attack?"

"No, but we have a visitor," Piper explained.

"A visitor?" asked Chris, looking a little annoyed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You called me because you have a visitor? I'm not here to entertain; I have a job to do. I was in the middle of something."

"Well, this is more important," she said tersely.

Hearing the seriousness in Piper's tone, Chris sighed and asked, "So where is this visitor?" He looked around and upon first glance didn't see anyone.

"Behind you," said a soft voice.

Chris glanced over his shoulder and then startled at the sight of another Leo in the room, one that looked as though he had seen better days. "Whoa! What's going on?" he asked, backing away from this strange version of Leo.

"Hello Chris," said LEO, a sad smile on his face as he took a few steps forward. "It's good to see you."

Puzzled, Chris looked to the Charmed Ones for an answer. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"We cast a spell to see who turns Wyatt and he was brought here instead," Phoebe explained sheepishly.

"What! Why would you do that? That's-"

"Personal gain!" Paige finished for him, waving her hand flippantly. "We know, we know."

"LEO says he knows you in the future," Piper began. "But he wouldn't say how."

Chris surveyed this bizarre version of Leo carefully, feeling his heartbeat quicken slightly. Whoever this was, he had obviously been through hell and back if his appearance was any indication. The man was covered in filth and looked as though he hadn't had a decent meal in a long while. Having come from similar conditions himself, it was reasonable to assume that their visitor very well could have come from the future. But Chris knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was not likely.

"What year are you from?" Chris asked hesitantly.

"The same as you, I expect," LEO replied. "2025."

"That's not possible…" said Chris, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I know this is confusing, Chris," LEO began, taking another step forward. "But I promise you that I am here. Just let me explain…"

"Don't come any closer," said Chris, feeling himself beginning to panic. He held up a hand and held the man back with his telekinesis.

LEO pushed against the invisible barrier, but found that he could not move any further. "Please just listen to what I have to say…"

Chris looked to the others and said, "I'll hold him for as long as I can. You need to find something in the Book about shape shifter demons. He's an imposter!"

"No I'm not!" said LEO adamantly.

"Chris, I really think that he's LEO," Piper explained. She gently reached out and tried to lower the arm Chris had raised to keep the man from approaching them any further.

He shrugged his shoulder to dislodge her and kept his arm steady. "NO! That's not possible! Grab some vanquishing potions," he instructed. "We need to be prepared. Paige, go search the Book!"

Paige shook her head. "Chris we already figured out that he is who he says he is."

"If you won't do it then I will," said Chris angrily. He carefully made his way over to the Book of Shadows, never lowering his arm to allow the man to escape.

LEO looked sad and defeated as he watched the young whitelighter search manically through the Book with his other hand. "Chris, please…" he tried once more, taking a few steps backing away from the barrier with his hands raised to show that he meant no harm.

Leo stood beside Chris and placed his hands on the Book to stop his frantic one-handed search. "Chris, I know you are just trying to protect us, but I know that he's me… believe me. I know!"

Chris finally looked up from the Book at the elder and said, "But that's not possible!"

"Why?"

"Because in my future you're dead!" Chris shouted.

He looked just as shocked as everyone else when he realized what he had slipped. All these months in the past, he had never given any information away about the future other than about Wyatt. He looked away in frustration.

"What?" Leo asked in surprise. "How?"

"It doesn't matter, but I know for a fact you are dead! I watched you die myself!" Chris said. "So that man cannot be you!"

"But he is," Leo tried again, looking over at his future self and knowing that it was true. "I'm sure of it."

Frustrated that no one was listening to him, Chris walked around the podium as he lowered his arm. He decided he was going to confront this imposter directly. Chris would vanquish the man himself if he had to.

"Who are you? Did he send you?" he asked, wondering if Wyatt had written another spell to send this pretender here.

"It's me, Chris. Let me explain-" LEO tried again.

"Did he send you!" Chris said tightly through his teeth, his annoyance mounting. He felt as though he might lose control any minute.

"Do you think he means Wyatt?" whispered Paige to Phoebe.

"It's possible. He's probably the one that sent Bianca back here," Phoebe reasoned.

"No, Chris. He did not send me," stated LEO. "The spell the sisters created brought me back to this time."

"Then who are you!" he shouted.

"You know it's me, Chris…" LEO began, slipping into whitelighter mode. "You're not being rational. Take a breath and calm yourself. When you feel more in control, use your whitelighter senses and you will know it's true."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Chris, just try it. What do you have to lose?" he said patiently.

Irritated at the request, Chris closed his eyes, confident that if this imposter tried anything, the girls would cover him. He took a few clarifying breaths, trying to think clearly. When he was calmer he reached out with his mind to sense who was in the room with him. He felt the girls first, their magic being the strongest, and continued to reach out. He could not have been more shocked to discover that there wasn't one, but two Leo's in the attic with him. The man really was who he said he was.

"Oh, God…" Chris breathed out as he realized the truth. When he opened his eyes, he saw LEO giving him a sad smile. "You can't be real…"

"I assure you that I am."

"But how can I be sure," Chris said, mostly to himself. "What if this is some spell that can fool whitelighter senses?"

"It's not," said LEO. "How else would I know that you love baseball? Or that you wanted to be a doctor when you grew up? Or that you had a crush on your magic school teacher?"

The Charmed Ones looked at one another in surprise. If what LEO was saying was true, then he had to be awfully close to Chris in the future.

"How do you know these things?" Chris whispered, shaking slightly with the shock of it all. His heartbeat quickened once more as his panic set in.

"Because I know you, Chris," he continued closing the distance between them. "I know how you loved to cook with your mom, but that you didn't take to baking. And that you once idolized your brother…"

"Um… excuse me? But how do you know Chris?" Piper suddenly interjected in an annoyed tone. She didn't appreciate that they were being ignored.

LEO looked at her in confusion. "I'm-"

"A friend of my father," Chris finished for him, giving LEO a deep and knowing look.

"Right," Leo said after a few moments of hesitation. "Chris is a family friend. Practically grew up at the manor."

"Well, that explains a lot," said Phoebe, realizing that it made sense. "That's how he knew so much about all of us."

Chris still looked utterly lost and confused. "But how is this possible? You're dead! I saw the darklighter kill you."

"That was an illusion. He made it look as though I had died," LEO explained. "I never even made it to the apartment that day."

"What? But we had a funeral for you," said Chris almost tearfully. "I grieved for you."

"I know. I'm so sorry…" LEO said, reaching out to put a hand on Chris's shoulder.

Shaking his head in denial, Chris said, "But he wouldn't do that to me."

"He who?" asked Paige, wanting to clarify what they were hearing.

"Wyatt," spat Chris. "He may have become the ruler of the underworld, but he never would have let me believe you were dead."

"He did," said LEO, looking almost sick with grief over it. "Trust me. He did."

Chris looked into his eyes searchingly. Something seemed to occur to him and a strange look came over his face. "So you have been alive all this time?"

LEO nodded numbly.

"You've been alive all this time?" Chris asked again, shaking his head in uncertainty. He seemed to growing more upset with each passing second.

"Yes," said LEO, his voice cracking with emotion. He seemed to understand what had caused Chris to become so alarmed.

"You've been _alive_ all this time!" Chris shouted, batting away the hand that was still on his shoulder.

The girls and Leo looked at one another in confusion. Why would Chris be angry that LEO was still alive, when just a moment ago he seemed remorseful about his death?

"Do you have any idea what I have been through?!" he spat.

LEO nodded miserably, his eyes shining with emotion. "I know, Chris. If I had been able-"

"Do you know what it was like watching everyone you love die around you? Huh? Do you? Because you weren't there for it! Six years you were gone!" Chris screamed, growing more and more agitated. "Where the hell were you when my grandpa died? Or when Wyatt began taking over the world? Or the rest of the family fell one by one?"

"Chris-" LEO tried, tears streaming down his face now. His chin trembled from holding back the sobs that wanted to escape. He knew all too well how much his disappearance had probably affected Chris.

"Where the hell were you!? I needed you!" he ranted. "I thought you were dead, but you've been _ALIVE_ all this time!"

"Chris, I can explain!" Leo yelled, trying to get through to the younger man.

"You know what? I don't want to hear it!"

"Please!" he begged tearfully.

"You've got no right coming back here and turning our world upside down!" Chris yelled. "I'm out of here… I've got better things to do…"

And without another word, Chris orbed away, leaving the rest of them in silence.

"What just happened?" asked Piper, looking at the others in confusion.

Never before had they seen Chris display such erratic and passionate emotions. In fact he was usually so closed off you couldn't ever read what he was feeling beneath the mask of indifference.

"I have no idea," said Paige, shaking her in confusion as well. Looking toward where LEO stood unmoving, she asked, "Are you alright?"

LEO looked up at her with a puzzled look on his face. It was though he had forgotten the rest of them were there. If possible, he looked even more dejected than he did before. His tears had made clear tracks on his dirt stained face and his eyes looked almost haunted.

Turning to Leo, he asked, "Can you sense him?"

Leo paused for a moment and said, "He's at the bridge."

LEO nodded and wearily made his way back to the couch, where he collapsed onto it with exhaustion. He wiped away his tears with his rough hands, causing him to look even more drained and unclean than before.

"Why can't you sense him?" Leo asked his future self.

LEO sighed tiredly. "It's a long story…"

* * *

A/N: I'm sure Chris's reaction seemed confusing. Just as a warning, there will be a lot that won't make sense at first, but it will all be explained as the story unravels. Hopefully you all will enjoy speculating what happened in the future. Don't forget to review!


	4. Tortured Soul

**Chapter 4- Tortured Soul**

The three girls and Leo were still a bit in shock from watching the exchange that had occurred before Chris abruptly orbed out of the attic.

"Why can't you sense him?" Leo had asked his future self.

LEO sighed tiredly. "It's a long story…"

"Well, we have all night," Piper said, determined to hear all there was to know about this LEO from the future.

LEO leaned forward and hung his head in his hands, still trying to get his emotions under control. He was quiet for a long while. "I don't know what I can say without giving away too much about the future …" he said finally.

Phoebe sat down beside him and placed her hand between his shoulder blades, rubbing gently. "I know you're going through a lot, but it would be helpful to at least tell us _something_. The spell brought you here for a reason. You hold the key to something that we're obviously meant to know."

LEO looked up at her wearily, indecision plainly visible on his face.

"She's right you know," said Leo. "Magic brought you here for a reason. It's logical to assume that something went wrong the first time around and we're meant to save Wyatt this time."

"Do you really think so?" LEO asked his counterpart.

"I have to," he replied. "I refuse to allow my son to grow up to be what you and Chris have made him out to be… the source of all evil."

LEO nodded, thinking over his words. "I guess I can tell you that the reason I can't sense Chris is because Wyatt bound my powers…"

"Why?" Piper asked.

LEO bluntly replied, "To render me powerless, of course."

Piper scowled at his comment and crossed her arms over her chest. LEO of the future was apparently as difficult to talk to as the present one.

Phoebe peered at him carefully, taking in his still disheveled appearance, and inhaled sharply when she came to some conclusion. "He held you captive, didn't he?"

LEO nodded again, as he leaned back against the couch now and rested his head against the soft fabric. "Six years. Your spell saved me."

Piper gasped in shock. "You were imprisoned for six years? Why would our son do such a thing?"

"To keep me away from…" There was a moment when it seemed as though LEO might say 'Chris' but seemingly changed his mind. "I mean, out of the way, so that he can take over the world."

"You were going to say Chris, weren't you?" Phoebe inquired.

Rubbing a filthy hand over his face, he nodded in defeat. "We had become close again after a while of barely speaking to one another. Wyatt saw us as an opposition to his rising power. By severing our bond he was hoping that he could eventually sway Chris to his side."

"But that didn't happen," Phoebe finished. "Chris chose to fight back… that must have been hard for him going against a family friend."

"I never thought of it that way," Piper whispered.

She hadn't ever really entertained the thought that Chris was someone they would come to know in the future. Now that she had learned that he was a family friend, she felt guilty to have treated him so horribly since he had arrived in this time. It certainly didn't excuse his actions, however, and she was determined to know all there was to know about their whitelighter.

"There's something that I don't understand. Why was Chris so upset that you're alive?" she asked, still thinking about Chris's emotional display before he left.

"He thinks I abandoned him," LEO replied despairingly.

Piper looked confused. "Abandoned him? I thought he was just a friend or something…"

"We were really close to his family. Like I said, Chris practically grew up in the manor," Leo explained, still following Chris's wish to lie to them about his identity. "There is a lot of history that I can't tell you about, but basically things were rough between Chris and I for a long while… he felt abandoned by me for a lot of different reasons, especially by my supposed death it seems. I probably made things a lot worse telling him I was still alive and wasn't able to be there for him for everything that happened next …"

"But that wasn't your fault!" Paige argued.

"I know that, but Chris doesn't. At least not yet…" he explained tiredly.

Being a former doctor, Leo had already begun to notice the fragile condition the man was in and decided that he needed to intervene before the girls began attacking him with any more questions. He knew that they wouldn't stop until they had all their answers and this future version of him seemed to be in no condition to be answering much of anything. Leo certainly knew how he would feel if he were in this position, and he felt that the least he could do was to fend the sisters off LEO for now.

He cleared his throat and said, "Um… I hate to break things up, but I think LEO- G_od, that's weird-_ would appreciate a shower, clean clothes, and something to eat before we continue any further."

LEO nodded at him appreciatively and smiled. "I would actually… I can't remember when I ate last."

"But aren't you technically dead?" Paige asked. "I didn't think that whitelighters had to eat or sleep."

"We don't, but we still enjoy creature comforts here on earth. And being deprived of his powers for so long, I imagine that he his body has become weakened as a result," Leo provided. "Without his self-healing powers, it's plausible to assume that left in those conditions over time his body would have continued to deteriorate until he ceased to exist."

"Ew…" said Paige simply.

"I don't know how you survived six years…" he said in amazement.

"Neither do I…" LEO muttered.

"But shouldn't we discuss why the spell brought him here?" Piper insisted almost angrily.

Leo put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "We'll have time for that later," he said softly. "The man has just been rescued from being held captive and sent to the past. Give him a chance to feel normal."

Piper sighed in defeat. "LEO, why don't you use our bathroom to shower? I'm sure you can find some of Leo's clothing in the dresser. While you get cleaned up, I'll fix us some dinner," she said, entering into her domestic mode.

"That would be lovely, thank you," said LEO, standing up from the couch.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to check in at work," said Phoebe, standing up beside him. "Elise will be working late and I know she'll be hounding me about this week's column if I don't at least make an appearance."

"And I'm going to pop over to see Richard for a bit. Want a lift?" Paige asked Phoebe.

"Sure," she said, taking her sister's hand. Paige then waved goodbye and orbed the two of them out of the attic.

"Just be home for dinner in an hour," Piper called after them. Frustrated by their lack of response, she waved her hand flippantly and headed downstairs to the kitchen leaving the two Leo's alone.

Seeing how LEO watched his former wife longingly, Leo asked, "How are you holding up?"

Startled from his reverie, LEO responded, "I'm no longer in that god awful cave. Compared to that, I'm doing great."

"I can't imagine what that must have been like," said Leo, leading the other man down the stairs toward the master bedroom. He still found it strange to be talking to himself. "I was only held captive in Valhalla for a few months and it was almost more than I can bear."

LEO looked puzzled. "Valhalla? I don't remember that."

"It was after I became an elder."

"But I didn't become an elder until after- I mean until 2006."

"Really?" Leo asked. "I wonder why there's a discrepancy."

Both men were pensive for a moment. "Could it be because of Chris?" he asked.

Leo smirked. "Probably seeing as Chris was the one who sent me there. Your memories are only of the previous timeline," he said working out this new theory. "By Chris coming back to the past, a new timeline has already begun. So it's reasonable to assume that you can tell us what you know of the future so that we can stop it from happening."

"I guess you're right," said LEO. "But first, I'd really love that shower."

Leo smiled and led him into the bedroom and pulled out some of his own clothes from the drawer, thankful that Piper hadn't thought to get rid of his things even though they were separated.

LEO took them gratefully. "Thank you," he said as he turned towards the master bathroom.

"Do you need to be healed anywhere?" Leo asked carefully. The man looked absolutely awful and if he truly had been held captive for six years, he was likely to have injuries, especially considering he was unable to self-heal.

LEO slowly turned back and then nodded. "I would appreciate it," he said. He then carefully removed the soiled shirt he was wearing. Beneath the filth, his skin was mottled with several painful looking cuts and bruises, healing at various degrees.

Leo gasped upon seeing the tortured body. "What happened to you?"

"Wyatt's minions like to get a little rough sometimes… they left me alone for the most part. I suppose it could have been a lot worse," he said darkly. LEO got a far away look in his eyes and it looked as though he were remembering something.

Leo wanted to ask about it, but felt that it was probably better not to. He quickly healed the man and left him to shower in peace. Stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him, Leo heard his son stirring in his crib.

Smiling he peeked into the small room and saw that Wyatt was awake from his nap. "Hi, little buddy. Did you wake up?"

Wyatt gurgled happily to see his father home.

Leo picked up his son, hugging him tightly, and said, "Let's go see what mommy's fixing for dinner."

***

LEO put one hand against the shower wall to brace himself and allowed the hot water pour over his head and down his tired body, trying to get his emotions in check. He was relieved to finally be free of his imprisonment, but it was completely overwhelming to be in the past with the Charmed Ones. It certainly was a surreal experience. Being here in the manor reminded him of so many memories, both good and bad, that had yet to happen. It was bittersweet, especially being able to see Piper again.

As strange as it was to be here with the sisters and his past self, it was almost unbelievable that Chris was here too. LEO still couldn't believe his luck. He knew he should be grateful for this opportunity to reconnect with him, but deep down he was worried that he would never be able to get through to the young man. There was too much that had happened.

LEO ended up spending more than half an hour enjoying the wonders of a long hot shower and would have stayed in there much longer if he had not drained the hot water tank. Finally feeling refreshed and thankful for the clean clothing, he decided to join the others downstairs for dinner.

He found Piper in the kitchen as expected, and he stood in the doorway for awhile watching her effortlessly move around as she cooked. It was clear that she was enjoying what she was doing and was oblivious of his presence. He felt himself getting choked up thinking of memories of her in his own past, and it was all he could do to keep his composure.

Hearing someone coming up behind him from the conservatory, LEO straightened up and tried to school his features.

"Feeling better?" Leo asked as he walked by, carrying something in his arms.

"Yes, much bet-" he began, but stopped in mid sentence when he saw Leo set baby Wyatt in his highchair.

Here before him was a child that would grow up to become so lost that he would only find security in the shadows. He felt his heart breaking for his little boy. Wyatt would come to know such unimaginable emotional pain that would seek out ways to prevent himself from ever feeling such pain ever again. He would turn away from the light and embrace the darkness, committing horrible misdeeds in his vain attempt to control everything lest he lose himself completely. The world would lay helpless and utterly destroyed in his wake of grief and regret.

"Is everything alright?" Piper asked him, sensing that something was amiss.

"What?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from his son. "Yeah… I had forgotten how old Wyatt would be in this time. I was just surprised to see him."

"It must be strange for you," Leo said knowingly, "to see Wyatt like this after knowing him as evil in the future."

LEO nodded, looking back at his son once more.

"Would you like to hold him?" Piper asked.

LEO hesitated, knowing that he didn't need to fear this younger version, but he still felt some trepidation. He knew what Wyatt was capable of in the future, including his own imprisonment. He would never hold a baby responsible for those future actions, but the request still made him pause. "Maybe later," he said tightly.

Piper seemed as though she wanted to say something more, but thought better of it. Changing the subject she said, "You look much better."

LEO nodded and smiled, noting that Piper had looked him over with an approving eye. It was nice to know she still thought of him as attractive.

He sat at the kitchen table with Leo and chatted with him while Piper finished up dinner. Phoebe and Paige joined them a short while later and they all moved into the dining room so that they could all dine together.

Not used to having so many to cook for again, there wasn't much in the kitchen that she could prepare, so Piper had opted to make a simple meal of spaghetti. She couldn't believe how nice it was having a family meal with everyone sitting down together for a change. Her sisters had been so busy lately that Piper had gotten used eating with only a toddler every evening. For some reason, it didn't seem the slightest bit strange that there were two versions of her husband at the dining room table tonight. She was just happy to have them there.

Dinner conversation centered mainly on Paige's temp jobs and what was happening at Phoebe's newspaper. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that conversations about the future could wait until they were done eating.

Somewhere in the middle of dinner, Wyatt had begun to fuss in his chair. Before anyone else could move, LEO had gotten up and retrieved Wyatt from his highchair. He settled the toddler on his lap, bouncing him slightly, and continued eating as if nothing had happened. It had been so natural that LEO didn't even realize that he had done it, until he saw Piper give him a curious look.

All of the reservations he had held earlier seemed to dissolve as the held Wyatt's warm weight in his lap. He looked down into his son's pale blue eyes and knew that he could not blame him for what he would become. For now, he was still his precious little angel. Thankfully, Wyatt didn't seem to mind that he currently two "daddies."

Just as they had finished dinner and the sisters were working to clear the table, Chris orbed into the dining room. He looked a mess and it was clear by his windblown hair that he had sat atop the bridge for a long while.

After his abrupt departure earlier, no one seemed to know what to say. The tension in the room was evident, and Chris nervously fidgeted with the hem of his shirt under their scrutiny. He looked at the two Leo's as if trying to decide which one was which. Chris finally settled on the slightly thinner and older of the two and addressed him.

"Can we speak in private?" Chris asked.

LEO nodded and handed Wyatt over to Piper. A moment later, Chris had orbed them up to the attic.


	5. The Deception Unfolds

A/N: I went back and forth on the issue of Chris and Wyatt having a little sister and I have finally decided that for that for this piece of fiction she doesn't exist. It's not that I don't like the idea of her character or anything, it's just that she wouldn't appear as major character and it would be one more thing to worry about when creating some of the flashbacks that will occur throughout the story. It's just too complicated. Sorry!

A/N: The flashbacks (really flash forwards) that I will be including in some of the chapters may occur out of order. Hopefully you won't become confused with the timeline, but let me know if you have any questions. The flashbacks tie into how LEO is feeling about everything and help to tell the mystery of what happens in the future. You will know much more than the Charmed Ones ever will.

**

* * *

**

Chapter 5- The Deception Unfolds

As Chris orbed them up to the attic, LEO couldn't help but remember the last time he had a conversation with his son.

* * *

_Leo had orbed into Victor's apartment to find Chris._

"_Hi, Dad," the teenager had said, not even looking up from his homework from where he sat at the kitchen table. Chris seemed to be in an amiable mood for a change. _

_Victor had been standing by stove, making what appeared to be a stir fry of some sort. Apparently his culinary skills had improved somewhat since Chris had come to live with him. "Hello, Leo," Victor said curtly._

_Leo had nodded and turned to his son. "Can we speak in private?" he asked. There were some things he needed to say and he didn't want Chris's decision to be swayed by his grandfather's presence._

"_About what?" Victor asked, turning towards them with a wooden spoon in his hand. He looked like he was on the defensive already. He and Leo had not always agreed on how to raise Chris since he had chosen to live with his grandfather less than a year ago._

"_It's between us-" Leo began._

"_Well, I think anything you have to say to him can be said in front of me," Victor argued, setting down his spoon and crossing his arms over his chest._

_Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn't want to offend his father-in-law after all he had done for them, but this conversation was important. It had taken a lot for him to muster up the courage to speak to Chris about it again and he didn't want to postpone it any longer. "Listen, I appreciate your concern, but I really would like to speak with Chris alone."_

_Chris sighed and closed his math textbook. "Its okay, Grandpa. I'll talk to him. Do you want to go to the bridge?"_

"_That we would be fine," said Leo, feeling relieved. He was about to grab his son's arm to orb him, when Chris orbed out on his own. Turning to Victor he said, "Don't worry, I'll have him home for dinner."_

_He then orbed to bridge and found Chris already seated with his legs dangling over the beam, waiting for him. Leo sat down beside his son and found himself at a loss on how to begin. He had practiced this conversation in his head a hundred times, but he felt no more prepared to handle Chris than before._

"_What did you want?" the sixteen year old suddenly asked, breaking the silence._

"_Just to talk," Leo began. "I've missed you…"_

_Chris turned to look at him, his eyes looking hopeful. "Really?"_

_Leo was shocked by the question. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"_

"_I don't know…" Chris mumbled, looking away. _

_Leo noticed him tugging on the cuffs of his sleeves nervously. Things had been difficult between them for a long while now. Some of it was his fault, but the large majority of the problem was because of Chris's skewed perception of how things had played out over the years. Leo had desperately tried to rectify the situation on many occasions, but the stubborn teenager was still holding fast to his inaccurate belief that his father didn't truly care for him._

"_Chris, look at me," Leo said. "Please…"_

_After a long while, Chris finally looked up at him. "You are my son and I love you very much. Of course I miss you… Just because I supported your decision to move in with your Grandpa, it doesn't mean that I don't think about you every day. I just wanted to make sure that you were comfortable where you were living so that you could get better."_

"_There's nothing wrong with me…" Chris muttered, still tugging on his sleeves._

"_I know…" said Leo, knowing the scars that lay hidden beneath those long sleeves. "How are you doing?"_

"_Good," Chris said, nodding. "I've started going to high school again."_

"_I saw that. You were working on math when I orbed in. Things are going well?"_

_Chris shrugged indifferently. "Yeah. I'm pretty behind, but my teachers are helping me catch up."_

_Leo smiled, knowing just how far his son had come in recovering. "I'm proud of you." He reached out and gave Chris a one armed hug, sensing that he wouldn't shy away from him._

"_Thanks," said Chris, leaning into his embrace._

_Leo cleared his throat, and figured now was as good of a time as any. "Listen… I know you are finally adjusting to everything again, but I wanted to ask you question…"_

"_What?" Chris asked._

_Leo took a deep breath and just came out and said it. "I was wondering if you might want to come home…"_

_He watched as Chris sat up straighter and took a shuddering breath. "I don't know…"_

"_Chris, if living at the manor is too much for you, then we can live wherever you want. I just want you with me. I miss you," Leo implored, knowing how difficult it would be for Chris to return home after everything that happened._

"_I don't know," Chris repeated, "If we lived somewhere else, what would we do with the manor?"_

_Leo had already considered this and it was a concern. As it was they were at risk of losing the house because of financial matters that had arose since Piper's death. He was trying his best to keep P3 up and running, but it was stressful trying to be at the club and be an elder and look after his estranged sons._

"_Well, we couldn't sell it because we have to protect the Nexus, so I guess it would sit vacant for a while," Leo finally said. "We could always get an apartment somewhere or something."_

"_Wouldn't that get expensive?" Chris asked in surprise._

"_It doesn't matter and you don't have to worry about that. I'd do anything to have you safe with me again. I'm still concerned that you are unprotected living with Victor," Leo said firmly._

_Chris frowned at this. "I can take care of myself."_

"_I know," said Leo, even though he wondered just how true that was. Chris may not have as many powers as Wyatt, but he could be a force to reckon with if he only had the confidence. _

"_What about Wyatt?" Chris asked._

"_What about him?" Leo asked, already knowing where he was going with this._

"_Would Wyatt live with us too?"_

"_If he wanted to, I guess. I honestly don't see him much anymore," Leo said in frustration. His eighteen year old son had moved out long ago after their many arguments had caused a rift between them. The last time he saw Wyatt, things had ended badly. "I tried to keep tabs on him for a long while, but it just got too hard… he's changed…"_

"_I know…"_

"_You do?" Leo asked in surprise. He didn't realize Chris saw Wyatt anymore. His eldest son was usually so consumed with grief and regret whenever he saw his younger brother that he would end up leaving or avoid him altogether. "Have you seen Wyatt lately?" _

"_He stops by sometimes," said Chris. "Been coming around a lot more… And you're right. He has changed…"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_He wants me to live with him too… says that he can keep me safe, but he kind of scares me…" Chris said, his voice barely above a whisper._

"_Why? What has he done?"_

"_Nothing really. It's just a feeling I get. He doesn't even care about innocents anymore, and he seems hell bent on vanquishing every last demon. He's always in the underworld, and he tries to get me to come with him," he explained, shuddering slightly. _

_Leo hugged him tighter to him, knowing how much it would upset Chris to be in the underworld again. "I didn't know that…"_

_Chris suddenly sat up a little straighter, looking around them. "What is it?" Leo asked._

"_He's here."_

_Leo sensed for his other son and realized that Chris was right. They both stood up. "Wyatt?" Leo called. _

_A young man with longish blonde hair suddenly appeared, having dropped his invisibility. He was clad all in black and Excalibur lay on his back, sheathed in a holster that hung from a strap that crossed his chest diagonally. "Hello Chris… Dad…" he said nodding to them both. "Isn't this a happy little reunion? What's the occasion?"_

"_Dad wants me to come live with him," Chris replied._

_Wyatt looked surprised by this and frowned deeply. "And are you going to?"_

"_I'm thinking about it," Chris admitted._

"_Really…"_

_Leo could see that this troubled Wyatt for some reason. "What Chris does is not your concern. It's his decision," he said, trying to ignore his son's appearance. He knew from experience that making any comments about his dark attire or that fact that he openly carried Excalibur would end in argument._

"_Chris will always be my concern. And what concerns me now is that he would foolishly live with you when he'd be safer with me," said Wyatt._

_Leo disregarded Wyatt's comment figuring he was still bitter about how things had been left between them. "You know you could return home too if you wanted. You are always welcome." _

"_Somehow I don't think that would be true… not now…" he said, shaking his head._

"_What do you mean?" Leo asked, his concern for his son growing now. "What have you done?"_

"_Only what I must…" said Wyatt. With a wave of his hand two demons appeared by his side. "I just wanted you both to know that you no longer need to fear an attack. I am in control now."_

_Leo sucked his breath in shock and pulled Chris behind him. "Wyatt, what have you done?!"_

"_Just taking out an insurance policy," he said with a sick grin._

"_What did you do? Take over the underworld or something?" Chris asked._

"_No, but I'm close…"_

* * *

Two days after that little encounter on the bridge, when he was coming to pick up Chris to bring him home, Leo was ambushed by demons… Wyatt's demons. He later learned the extent of Wyatt's treachery. Leo shook his head to clear his thoughts.

The twenty-two year old Chris had yet to say anything to him, and Leo was nervous about how to begin to explain to him his brother's betrayal. He watched his son pace around the attic nervously and marveled at how much he had changed.

"I can't believe how much you've grown," he said.

Chris gave him a funny look and said, "Yeah, well you missed a lot…"

Leo's eyes must have revealed how much that comment hurt because Chris suddenly said. "Sorry… I didn't mean that…"

"Yes you did," said Leo knowingly. "You're still hurt that I wasn't there for you."

"Why weren't you?!" asked Chris, suddenly full of rage once more. "I've gone over this in my head and I still can't figure it out. Where were you all this time?"

Leo really didn't want to have to spell every last awful detail out to him. "C'mon Chris. You must know…"

"With Wyatt?" Chris asked, his voice cracking. "Your favorite?"

Leo sighed and shook his head. "Despite what you may think, I never played favorites."

Chris snorted. "Yeah, right…"

"It's true," Leo said firmly.

"Whatever," he replied snidely. "So did you and Wyatt have fun making me believe you were dead? Did you think I was better off without you?"

"It wasn't like that."

"Then tell me what it was like!"

"I was in his dungeons, okay?" Leo yelled back. "For the last six years I have spent every moment in a small cave guarded by demons."

"No!" said Chris in disbelief. "I don't believe you. Wyatt wouldn't do that to you, not after…"

"Chris, he did. Alright?" Leo said sadly. "I tried so hard to escape and get back to you, but nothing I did worked, especially after he bound my powers. After a while, I think I gave up... it was easier than caring… easier than trying to make Wyatt see that he was becoming evil…"

"You were down there all that time?" he asked, his voice just above a whisper.

Leo nodded despondently.

"Oh God…" said Chris, looking as though he was starting to panic. "All that time and I didn't know. I could have rescued you or something…"

"Chris, calm down…" he tried.

"All that time… what did they do to you?" he asked desperately.

"You don't want to know," Leo said.

"Oh God… six years…" he began to pace around the attic, apparently distraught over his father's imprisonment. "The damage they must have done…"

Leo reached out and grabbed his son by the arms and shook him to make him snap out of his tirade. "Chris, calm down! It wasn't like what happened to you!"

Chris gave him a doubtful look.

"I promise you, it wasn't as bad as… that…" Leo said, unsure of how to explain it without setting Chris off into a self-destructive mood.

"Six years…" Chris whispered again, tears in his eyes. "If I had known…"

"I know, Chris. I know."

"But why would Wyatt do this?" he asked once more.

"For whatever reason, Wyatt saw our bond as a threat to his rising regime. He once told me that that there was only room for one person's influence in your life," LEO explained. "He knew that I wouldn't be understanding of his cause, but hoped that he could persuade you to his way of thinking. So he did the only thing he could think of… he severed our bond by making you think that I was dead. Trapped in the underworld, you wouldn't be able to sense me and would believe my faked death. With me out of the way he hoped that you would join him."

Looking tired and defeated, Chris said. "I'm sorry for the way I have acted… I didn't know…"

"I know," said Leo, pulling his son into an embrace. They held onto each other for a long while, before Chris finally pulled back.

"How much do you know about what happened to the family?" he asked.

LEO swallowed thickly, remembering how frustrating it had been to learn how his family was falling apart and being powerless to stop it. "A little… Wyatt used to come down and talk to me occasionally," he said. "Mostly he gloated over his victories, but he also shared news about what was happening to the family."

"So you know that Uncle Henry and the rest of the cousins died fighting?" Chris asked, wiping away the tears gathering in his eyes now.

LEO nodded miserably. "And I was told that Uncle Coop was banished from earth by a spell."

"We tried to break it, but nothing we ever tried worked," Chris explained. "I guess it's better that he wasn't able to return to earth anyway. He would have probably fallen too."

LEO put a hand on his son's shoulder and felt the ache in his chest continue to grow. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"Grandpa died two years later after you disappeared… did you know that?" Chris added.

LEO was surprised to hear this. "No. I didn't. How did it happen?" he asked, fearing the worst.

"Lung cancer. It got pretty bad towards the end," Chris explained. "He was the only one that actually died of natural causes."

Leo sighed sadly and moved his hand to caress his son's face. "I'm sorry you had to go through that at such a young age," he said.

Chris shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I was grown by then and I could take care of myself."

"But you shouldn't have had to…"

"I didn't really have a choice. Wyatt had become the Source by then," he said. "We created a resistance against him."

"I heard," said LEO smirking. "Wyatt was furious when he found out you were the leader."

Chris nodded and took a deep breath, looking despondent. His son really had been to hell and back again and it pained LEO that he had failed him so badly.

"Chris, I tried to get back to you. I really did," LEO tried to explain once more. "But without my powers-"

Chris cut him off. "Wyatt really bound your powers?"

LEO nodded sadly.

"Maybe we could write a spell to reverse it?" Chris inquired.

"I don't think it would work, even with the Power of Three," said LEO.

"You're probably right. Only Wyatt could reverse a spell strong enough to bind an Elder's powers," Chris admitted. "But it's still worth a try…"

LEO shrugged. Losing his powers didn't bother him anymore. He had lived so long without them that he almost couldn't remember what it was like to have them. They were both quiet again for awhile, lost in their own thoughts.

LEO finally broke the tension with a heartfelt apology. "I'm so sorry Chris… that I wasn't a better father… I did everything I could think of to escape. I even tried tunneling through the cave walls, but I was always caught. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you."

"It's okay," Chris said, his voice choked with emotion.

"No, it's not. But we're going to stop it from ever happening," LEO said determinedly.

"I hope so…"

He pulled his son back into another rough embrace, holding him tightly. He was so thankful to have Chris in his life again.

That was how the sisters found them a moment later, when their curiosity finally got the best of them and they came to investigate.

* * *

A/N: Sorry to end it there. I will hopefully be posting again soon. Let me know what you think!


	6. Differences of Opinion

**Chapter 6- Differences of Opinion**

Piper was somewhat surprised to see Leo and Chris hugging each other so fiercely when she and the others finally entered the attic. She figured they had given them enough time to talk and now it was time to get some much needed answers.

"Everything alright?" she asked, when neither one seemed to notice the sisters' presence.

The pair broke apart quickly, looking somewhat embarrassed. She noticed that both of them seem to be a little teary eyed and she wondered what their conversation had been about that had upset them so much.

"Yes," LEO responded quickly. "Just catching up."

Piper was starting to feel a little guilty about interrupting them, but not enough to ignore the fact that the spell brought LEO here for a reason. "We were wondering if we could talk about Wyatt," she said, glancing down at the toddler she was carrying on her hip.

"But we could come back," said Phoebe, feeling all of the tension in the room.

Piper shot her a look and Phoebe shrugged in response.

"That's alright," said Chris. "I'd like to know what LEO has to say about Wyatt's turning myself."

Piper placed Wyatt in his play pen with a few toys and joined her sisters, who had sat down on the couch. LEO and Chris had pulled a couple of chairs from the table over to sit on, but Leo had opted to sit on the arm of the couch near his ex-wife.

"So what happens to my little nephew that he becomes evil?" asked Phoebe directly.

LEO opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Chris.

"Before he says anything, I'd like to see the spell that you wrote so that we know exactly what you asked for," he interrupted.

"Is that really necessary? It brought him here, didn't it?" asked Piper, gesturing towards the future version of her ex-husband.

"I'm not going to allow him to tell you anything until I read it. If we're not careful with information about the future there could be-"

"Consequences," Piper finished for him with a roll of her eyes. "I get it. Do either of you still have it?" she asked her sisters.

"I do," said Paige, raising her hand. She reached in her pocket, where she had stowed the spell earlier, and pulled it out. She handed it over to Chris who quickly read it before passing it on to the other two Leo's.

"_Innocence corrupted, A good witch turned, Protecting Wyatt is what we yearn. A future of darkness will come to be, Reveal the evil responsible to me."_

"It looks alright to me," said Leo, glancing over the spell. "I don't see anything wrong with LEO telling us anything."

Chris nodded somewhat reluctantly. "I will allow it, but within reason," he said.

"Don't worry. I'll be discreet," said LEO, looking over at the young whitelighter. He knew already just how careful he had to be about this.

"But how do you know for sure what made Wyatt turn? I've gone over it all a thousand times and I'm no closer to figuring it out than I was before," said Chris, frustration etched into his face.

"I know because Wyatt told me," LEO said simply, "during one of his visits to my cell."

"He told you what turned him evil?" asked Chris in disbelief. "But he doesn't even believe in good and evil anymore. He thinks its all about power."

LEO nodded. "You're right about that. But he said he knew what the turning point was for him. It was the day that he decided that he needed to be in control... of everything."

"Well, what happened?" Piper asked impatiently.

LEO sighed and looked away. He was beyond exhausted by now but he knew this difficult conversation still had to take place. "It's hard to explain…"

"Well, try!" she said, her irritation growing.

"Piper, give him a chance. This is probably hard for him," Paige chided her older sister.

"Well this is hard for me too! I don't want to hear that my baby will grow up to be evil!" Piper said defensively.

"But you haven't lived to see that yet," said Phoebe, taking her sister's hand to comfort her. "LEO has… so give him some time."

"Alright," said Piper. "I'm sorry to push, but I just need to know."

LEO rubbed his face tiredly with his hands, looking at a loss as how to begin. He glanced at Chris, wondering if he should ask him to leave the room, but knew that it wouldn't happen anyway. He'd just have to do this as carefully as possible as to not upset the young man.

"It will happen 14 years from now…" he began.

"But I thought that the evil that gets to Wyatt happens when he is a baby?" Paige asked in confusion. "At least that was what Chris told us."

LEO shook his head, surprised by Chris's mistaken belief. "Why did you think that?" he asked.

Chris leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Because I can't remember a time that Wyatt was ever taken, so I figured that it must have happened before I was born," he said with a shrug.

"I understand why you might have thought that. But what triggers evil inside of Wyatt happens when he is a teenager," LEO explained.

"That can't be right. He was never taken then," Chris argued. "And anyway he was much too powerful then to be kidnapped by a demon. He could have easily vanquished them. It has to happen when Wyatt is still young."

LEO knew this would be difficult, but he never imagined just how much. "Chris, Wyatt didn't turn evil because of something that happened to him. It was because of something that happens to someone else… 14 years from now…"

"NO!" Chris shouted, jumping up from his chair so fast that he knocked it over. "That's not what happened! You're wrong!"

LEO wearily stood up beside him. "I know this is hard for you, but trust me when I say-"

"NO! I'm not listening to this and you aren't going to tell them anything else!" Chris yelled. "Whatever happened to Wyatt has to occur in the next few months."

Leo shook his head. "If that were true we would have seen the signs earlier, not after-"

"Stop it! You're wrong!"

"What's going on?" Piper asked, trying to get a word in edgewise. "What happens in 14 years?"

"Nothing you need to know about!" Chris yelled at her.

Piper was taken aback. Chris may be sarcastic and a little rude at times, but he had never spoken to her like that before.

"Excuse me? If this is about my son or something that will affect him so deeply that he turns away from good, then yes I need to know about it!" Piper argued. "Maybe you're the one responsible and you just don't want us to know."

"You're right. This _is_ all my fault, at least that's what LEO thinks!" Chris spat, his eyes a torrent of emotions.

Piper opened her mouth in surprise. "I knew I should have never trusted you!"

Chris turned away from them slightly, shaking from suppressed emotions. He looked as though he were ready to run or orb out of it there at any moment.

"Leave him alone!" LEO yelled at his wife. "You don't understand anything. What happens isn't Chris's fault so don't you ever say anything otherwise again!"

Piper was taken aback once more; surprised to be spoken to in such a manner by someone she had always considered a pacifist. She looked to the present version of Leo and saw that he was just as astonished as she was.

She was suddenly alerted to the sound of crying coming from the play pen. All of the shouting had upset baby Wyatt. Piper was about to retrieve her baby boy, when Paige held up a hand.

"I got him," she said, hurrying to her nephew.

She quickly picked him up and began bouncing him and shushing him in his ear to calm him. Not wanting to miss anything, Paige began to walk him back and forth across the attic, a little away from the others, still bouncing him and whispering sweet words in his ears. Wyatt's cry softened to a whimper, and then finally stopped completely.

"Chris, just hear me out… Please…" LEO begged, grabbing Chris's arm to prevent him from walking away. "If I can save her… If I can save _you_… then it would be worth any consequences."

"You don't know that. You could just make things worse," Chris countered, turning back to look at him.

"I thought we were saving Wyatt," muttered Leo, from where he still sat on the arm of the couch.

"We are!" LEO yelled at his younger self. Realizing that all of this anger wasn't doing any of them any good, especially little Wyatt, he took a steadying breath. "I just need to explain… but I may need Chris' help."

Chris shook his head adamantly. "I don't want to talk about it… They don't need to know…"

"They won't understand otherwise," he tried to reason. "Please... Just let me explain and you can help me fill in any gaps. I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what occurred."

"Nothing happened!"

He sighed. "Chris, you know that's not true…"

Piper saw her middle sister wince suddenly in pain. "What's wrong?" she asked Phoebe.

"Just getting a little headache," she said, grimacing in pain. "All these emotions are making my head hurt."

LEO realized that he wasn't getting anywhere with Chris and so he tried a different approach. "I'm going tell them what I know whether you like it or not. It will be a lot more difficult to find the demons responsible without your help, but it's your choice. Will you help me?"

Chris shook his head and started to back away. "Nothing happened," he said once more, though he looked like he was trying to convince himself of that.

"Where are you going?" he asked when he saw that Chris was entering into his flight mode.

"Somewhere that's not here."

"Please stay…" LEO begged him.

Chris had never spoken about what had happened to him. Any attempt he had made to force him to had always ended badly. He knew better than making Chris relive those awful events, but he wasn't sure he could find the demons without him.

"I can't," Chris whispered forlornly.

"I know," Leo said softly. He reached out and gently held Chris's wrists in his hands, holding onto him as though he were talking to a small child. "But don't do anything… because you're upset with me."

Chris looked at him sadly, his eyes shining with tears he was still desperately trying to keep in check.

"Please," Leo pleaded. "Promise me…"

"I promise," Chris said.

LEO reluctantly released his arms and Chris orbed away without another word.

"What was that all about?" Paige asked him, joining the others now that Wyatt was calm in her arms.

"He's been through more pain than any of you will ever know," he revealed.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know. Why did I leave it there? Don't worry, my version of the "Event" will be revealed in the next chapter.


	7. Three Days

**A/N: Warning**: The contents of this chapter contain my version of the "Event" and may be found to be potentially disturbing by some. Charmed was written for a PG-13 audience, but as fan fic writers we can take a few liberties. I believe that for a demon to be truly _evil_, they'd have to commit heinous crimes. Most of what will be described will be implied, rather than going into graphic detail, but it may still be upsetting.

**

* * *

**

Chapter 7- Three Days

"What is it? What happened?" asked Piper, starting to feel really nervous about what LEO was going to tell them. He was still staring at the place Chris had been standing before he orbed out, lost in his own thoughts. When he didn't respond for a long while, she tried again. "LEO, what happens in 14 years?"

He turned to look at her with such despair that she felt truly afraid.

"You will die…" he said, a tear cascading down his face as he remembered that awful day.

* * *

_They had no way of knowing that on that happy day- Chris's 14__th__ birthday- that all hell would break loose. There was a big dinner planned for later that evening and the whole family was going to be at the manor for the special occasion._

_Knowing that the festivities wouldn't take place until later that day, Leo felt no qualms about orbing "up there" with Wyatt to confront the elders about an issue that had just come up. _

"_Jonas, you can't be serious. Wyatt is only sixteen. He can't possibly take a charge yet," he had argued. _

_They had just recently learned that that they wanted Wyatt to take on a charge, and Leo was trying to protest it. He knew that this day might come, but he had never expected it to be so soon. Although he would like his son to eventually follow in his footsteps, he didn't want it to take priority over everything else going on his Wyatt's life. And he certainly knew Piper's feelings on the subject._

"_We've given this a lot of thought-"_

"_I'm sure you have but you can't just come down when you feel like it and drop this on him like this, especially without his mother or I present. He's just a kid!" Leo argued._

"_We feel that the time is right, Leo. You can hardly deny that Wyatt is more than prepared to take on such a worthy role," Jonas explained. "Besides, his charge is a young boy that hasn't come into his powers yet. We feel that Wyatt would be a good influence."_

"_I don't doubt that, but Wyatt has enough to worry about right now. He is attending both high school and magic school, and is thinking about college," Leo said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not to mention that he is training with Excalibur and learning to control his powers."_

"_It's alright, Dad. I think it's cool," said Wyatt, unable to hide his excitement over having a charge. _

"_It's not cool," he said. "You shouldn't have to stretch yourself thin."_

"_Leo… you must understand that his duties as a Whitelighter take precedence," Jonas said firmly._

_Leo shook his head. "He's not a true Whitelighter! He never died nor was he given the choice to become one. Just because he happens to carry Whitelighter blood in him doesn't give you the right to thrust this upon him."_

"_Dad…"_

"_It should be his choice when he feels that he is ready," Leo continued, ignoring his son._

"_Dad," Wyatt tried again, tugging on his father's arm._

"_What?"_

"_Something is wrong…" said Wyatt, frowning deeply._

"_What is it?" he asked._

"_I don't know. It just feels as though something isn't right."_

_Leo listened carefully but found that he couldn't hear anyone's call help. "I don't hear anything. I'm sure everything is okay."_

"_I don't hear anyone either," Wyatt muttered, still not satisfied._

"_Well, you wouldn't," said Jonas, sighing irritably. "I made it so that we could have this conversation without being interrupted."_

"_You put us on mute?" Wyatt questioned, looking puzzled._

_Jonas shrugged. "So to speak."_

"_You did what?" asked Leo. "Why?"_

"_Your family should not take precedence over your Elder duties, Leo, nor should they interfere with Wyatt's destiny to be a whitelighter. I felt it was important to speak of his new assignment without being interrupted."_

"_You had no right!" Leo argued. "And for your information my family does come first. Now undo it!"_

_Jonas sighed and then nodded. With a wave of his hand, he released the "mute" on the two whitelighters._

_Leo strained to hear anyone's call but found that all was quiet. "I still don't hear anything…" he said softly. But he knew better than to question his son's instincts. He reached out with his mind and tried to sense for his family and became alarmed. "I can't sense them either!"_

"_Neither can I!" said Wyatt, his eyes growing wide with fear._

"_Let's go!" said Leo worriedly. "This conversation is over anyway."_

_They quickly orbed to the manor with trepidation in their hearts. As soon as they reformed in the foyer, a terrible pain ripped through Leo's chest, nearly doubling him over. Something must have happened to Piper because he was feeling that she was in pain, or at least had been recently. Overwhelmed with the sensation it was all Leo could do to gain control of his own faculties._

"_What is it?" Wyatt asked, his hand resting on his father's shoulder in concern._

"_I don't know… but I think you're right. Something is wrong!" Leo said tightly, staggering towards the living room as he clutched his chest. _

_The entire room was in shambles and it was clear that there had been some sort of fight here. It appeared as though Piper had attempted to blow up her attackers and the furniture got __in the way__ instead. One of the couches had spewed it's cotton batting on the floor and the grandfather clock lay in splintered pieces all over the floor. _

_Unable to find his family among the wreckage he continued to the conservatory, his heart pounding loudly._

_Thankfully Wyatt had paused to survey the damage in the living room and hadn't come with him. The sight that confronted Leo as he entered the conservatory was the most horrific thing he had ever witnessed. His breath caught in his chest and it was all he could do to bite back the primal scream that wanted to rip from his throat. Leo knew from the condition her body was in that there was nothing he could to bring her back. She was gone now- her soul free now of whatever tortures her body bore in those horrific last moments._

_As much as he wanted to crumple to the floor in despair at what he was seeing, he instinctively thought of his son. He couldn't let Wyatt see this. If he had been alone he would have allowed the grief to swallow him then, but he had to be a parent first. _

_  
As he whipped around, Wyatt crashed into him. Leo quickly placed his hands on his son's shoulders and pushed him back into the living room, shaking his head. He knew he should say something, but the lump in his throat was making it difficult to say much of anything._

"_Dad, what's going on? What is it?" Wyatt asked, fearfully when he saw the tears cascading down his father's face. "Tell me!"_

"_She's gone…" he whispered, still trying to make Wyatt move farther away from that awful scene._

"_What? Who?" he asked, pushing back against his father now._

"_Your mother," Leo whispered._

"_NO! What are you saying! That's not true!" Wyatt yelled, trying to squirm from his father's arms. _

"_She's gone…"_

_Knowing he had to stop Wyatt from seeing his mother at all costs, he began to bear hug his son. He would have orbed them both away, but he still needed to assess the situation. There could still be demons in the house and he needed to find Chris. For now all he could think to do was to stop Wyatt from seeing his mother._

"_Let go of me!" Wyatt yelled, trying to wrestle himself from his father's grip. _

_Wyatt was taller than his father at sixteen and possibly stronger, but Leo had adrenaline on his side and he was putting up a fight. When he wouldn't let go, Wyatt used his telekinesis to push his father away. Leo fell onto the other couch as his son ran out of the room and into the conservatory._

"_Wyatt, stop! Don't go in there!" he yelled after him._

_Wyatt ignore__d__ the plea and turned the corner, only to skid to a stop. "No!" He screamed. "Oh God! NO!"_

_Leo ran in to find his son kneeling in a pool of blood, desperately trying to heal his mother, whose body was splayed in an awkward pose in the middle of the brightly sunlit room. Wyatt began to sob uncontrollably as he realized his healing powers weren't working._

_Leo's legs were so unsteady beneath him that it felt as though he was moving through a pool of water. He slowly moved towards his son, unable to process what had so horribly gone wrong. Sobbing now himself, Leo knelt down next to his son, allowing himself to really look at his wife's mangled form now. _

_She was dead, that much he already knew. Her unseeing brown eyes were staring up at the ceiling. Her clothing, a pretty blue sweat__er__ and a brown skirt that had been picked out for the special day, was shredded in various places. Her body, although cold now, was still seeping blood from her numerous wounds. As Leo examined the grotesque nature of the wounds, he slowly began to realize that it looked as though something had feasted upon her. There were huge chunks of flesh missing from her lifeless corpse bearing teeth marks. He could only pray that she was already gone when the morbid feast had begun._

"_Why isn't this working!" Wyatt yelled through his sobs. "Help me!"_

"_I can't," said Leo, grabbing his son's hand. "We can't heal the dead."_

"_No, no, no… no, please no," Wyatt sobbed, staring into his father's eyes. "She can't be dead!"_

"_I'm so sorry__,__ son… so sorry…" Leo cried._

_All he wanted to do was to lie down beside his wife and lament his grief to the heavens, but he knew there was still much to do. With strength Leo didn't know he could muster, he helped his son up and led him away from his mother's body. When they were out of eyesight of Piper, he pulled Wyatt into a fierce hug and held onto him while his son sobbed mournfully. Their clothing was covered in her blood, but there was nothing that could be done about it right now. Leo gave him a few minutes before finally pulling back. There was still someone else to consider._

_Taking his son's face into his hands, he said, "We need to find Chris…"_

_Wyatt pulled back in shock when realization set in. A member of their family was still missing. "Oh no…" _

_They both tried sensing for the younger boy, but couldn't feel him anywhere. Calling for him didn't cause him to appear either. Together they searched the entire manor, just in case Chris had cloaked himself or something, but couldn't find him anywhere on the premises._

_Wyatt was noticeably distraught with grief and worry, wringing his hands anxiously as the minutes ticked away. Leo was faring no better. "Dad, where is he?"_

"_I don't know," Leo said, wiping the tears from his eyes and trying to think clearly. _

"_What if he's dead too-"_

"_Don't think that. We'll find him!" Leo said firmly._

"_How? Where?"_

_Leo shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe they took him to the underworld?"_

"_The demons?" Wyatt asked in horror._

_Leo nodded, wondering how they were ever going to find them. "We need your aunts… they need to know about-" Leo couldn't even finish that thought. "They'll be able to find Chris, I know it."_

_Wyatt nodded in agreement. "Aunt Paige?" he called. "Paige!"_

_When his aunt didn't orb in right away, Wyatt sighed. His aunt wasn't always punctual these days, caught up with her own family, magic school, and her many charges. "I'll go get them," he offered._

_Leo nodded, knowing that it was probably for the best. "Maybe you should…" he began, gesturing towards Wyatt's bloodstained clothes. They had the rest of the family to think about it, and it was probably best not to orb in front of them with his clothes looking like that. It would only frighten the little cousins more than necessary._

_Wyatt looked down and saw that his hands and pant legs were indeed still covered in his mother's blood. His face looked like it might crumple in despair once more, but he quickly recovered. He quietly chanted a quick spell. _

"_Let the object of objection, become but a dream, as I cause the scene to become unseen."_

_The blood quickly disappeared from both of them and Wyatt orbed away, looking quite despondent._

_After his son left, Leo shakily moved back towards the conservatory. He sank down in one of the white wicker chairs near Piper's body, lowered his head into his hands and began to sob once more. He couldn't believe the pain he was feeling. It felt as though is heart had been ripped out of his chest, and in many ways it had. _

_He sat there for a long while, only because it felt like he couldn't even move with the shock of it all. But eventually he got up and grabbed a blanket that had been draped over the back of one of the couches in the living room. He first closed his wife's eyes and then carefully laid it over Piper's body. He hadn't been successful in preventing his son from seeing her like that, but he could at least try to spare Piper's sisters._

_When her disfigured body and all the blood was hidden beneath the thick woolen fabric, Leo sat down on the floor and grabbed his wife's hand, which was extending from beneath the blanket. He held the cold hand in his own, tracing her fingers and knuckles gently, remembering how beautiful she had been before the demons had decimated her body. Some of the blood had begun to seep through the blanket. He desperately tried to ignore it, but soon became too overwhelmed. He allowed himself to grieve while he waited for the others, trying to think about what he would say to them when they arrived. In the end, he could think of nothing. He was too numb._

_What seemed like hours later, but was probably only a matter of minutes, Wyatt finally returned. _

_Alone._

_Leo heard the sound of his orbs and went to investigate when he heard nothing else. Wiping the tears from his eyes he went into the kitchen and found Wyatt seated at the table, his head buried into his arms._

_Fearing the worst, Leo sat down beside his son and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wyatt? Where are your aunts?"_

_Wyatt broke down once more and began weeping as he covered his head to hide his despair. Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, Leo tried again. "Wyatt?"_

_His son finally raised his head and Leo could see that his eyes were bloodshot and swollen. "They're gone."_

_All the breath left Leo's chest and it was all he could do utter his next word. "What?"_

"_They're all gone," Wyatt said miserably. "The demons struck them all at the same time, knowing that they weren't as strong without the power of three."_

"_No," Leo said, shaking his head sadly. He tried to reach out to Paige and Phoebe and found that he couldn't sense them either. "Oh no."_

_Wyatt sniffed and quickly told his story. He had orbed to Paige's place first, and found a despondent Henry, clutching the twins and crying helplessly. Both Paige and Junior had been struck down by the demons, while Henry had been picking the girls up from ballet practice. They had returned home to find them lying on the floor with large burns covering most of their bodies__,__ having been killed by energy balls. They could only assume that Junior had gotten in the way while trying to protect his mother. Henry had already called Darryl Morris and he was handling the "situation." _

_Wyatt had then orbed to Phoebe's condo only to find a similar scenario. On his wife's orders, Coop had transported all three girls to Grandpa Victor's apartment when the demons had arrived. He had returned to find his true love lying dead on the floor. The loss had nearly killed Coop himself, and Wyatt had reluctantly left him begging an Angel of Death for mercy. _

_The pair sat there crying quietly for a few moments, still trying to understand the devastating loss they had just suffered._

"_We need to find Chris…" Leo said again, rising from the seat._

"_Where are you going?" ask the sixteen year old boy._

_Leo shrugged and said the only thing he could think of, "To check the Book." It was something he had heard the girls say time and time again and it somehow seemed appropriate now._

_They tried everything they could think of to find Chris. They tried calling for a lost witch, summoning spells, speaking with the Elders, and scrying, but nothing seemed to work. They searched each of the three households for clues but found nothing that would give the identity of the band of demons who had wreaked such havoc in their lives._

_In the end, Leo and Wyatt both went to the underworld and did the only thing they could… they began searching. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack._

_Three days, Chris was missing._

_Three days of searching endlessly under various disguises._

_Three days of tracking every potential lead._

_Three days of unimaginable pain and horror._

_Three days of hoping beyond hope that they would find him._

_Unfortunately, three days was much too long._

_For in three days… a lot can happen to a young boy…_

_* * *_

"I'm going to die?" Piper asked.

LEO nodded miserably, still shaken from his memory. He wiped away his tears. "You all will."

The three sisters looked at each other in alarm. They knew how dangerous it was being witches. Even with all the good they did, there was still the chance that it would never be enough. Prue was poof enough of that. They had long ago accepted how fragile their existence was here on earth, but never did they imagine all three of them dying at once.

"How?" asked Phoebe, her eyes shining now.

"You will be attacked simultaneously in three different locations by a clan of demons," he explained simply, his voice sounding hollow. He decided to leave out the gruesome details.

"Which clan?" Paige asked stiffly, shifting baby Wyatt in her arms so that she was more comfortable.

"I don't know," LEO said with a shrug. "I wasn't there."

"Well, that's not very helpful," Paige muttered.

"There's something I don't understand," said Piper in confusion. "I know you said Chris was a friend of the family… so why didn't he want you to tell us this?"

LEO took a shuddering breath. "Because he's afraid… he was taken by the demons during the attack…"

"Oh no…" said Phoebe. "Did you find him? Was he alright?"

"It took us three days," LEO explained, still unsettled by the memory of it. "He wasn't the same afterwards."

"That's awful," said Piper, finally realizing how important Chris was to her family in the future. "Why didn't Chris ever suggest these demons to us?"

LEO sighed deeply. "He probably doesn't want to relive any of that over again… or he may not remember…" he said softly, knowing just how traumatized his son had been.

"Or Chris might not have suggested it simply because he thought that he had to find a demon that gets to Wyatt before he turns two," offered Leo, remembering Chris's argument earlier. The girls all nodded, realizing that it made sense.

"And this 'event' is what causes Wyatt to become evil?" Piper asked, still trying to understand.

LEO nodded. "Wyatt felt guilty that he wasn't there when the attack took place," he explained. "He was traumatized by the things he saw and what happened to Chris. Eventually he began to believe that if he wanted to prevent something like that happening ever again, then he needed to be in control. He became consumed with revenge and power. It corrupted him over time until the lines between right and wrong began to blur."

"But why?" she asked, as she took her son from Paige and clutched him close to her heart. "I can't imagine my precious angel being evil. There's so much good in him."

"Like Phoebe, Wyatt was born in the manor over the Nexus. Both of them are more susceptible to be swayed by good or evil," Leo reasoned.

Piper nodded, finally allowing herself to believe the awful truth. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to stop it," Paige said determinedly. She rose from her seat and strode towards the Book of Shadows, flipping through its pages.

"But how?" asked Phoebe. "LEO said he doesn't know which demons were responsible."

"I don't know," she said, with a shrug. "But we'll figure it out."

"I hope so…" LEO whispered.

The future that will result if they didn't was just too horrible to bear.


	8. Forgotten Memories

A/N: I had a question earlier about whether or not I was still going to incorporate the Gideon storyline from canon with my own and the answer is no. I never really liked the whole Wyatt-turned-evil-because-someone-he-trusted-betrayed-him story line. C'mon the kid was like two. How much do you remember when you were two? With everything that little boy had been through and saw when demons were attacking, why would Gideon be the one thing that turned him? I feel that what I put Wyatt through was much more traumatic and plausible. Plus it explains why he didn't display any evil tendencies until he was nearly an adult. I'm hoping you still are enjoying the story. Chris's identity will be revealed soon!

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Chapter 8- Forgotten Memories

It was nearly midnight when Chris finally showed again. The group had not left the attic in the couple of hours since LEO dropped his bombshell, other than to give Wyatt a bottle and put him down to sleep for the night. They had searched the Book of Shadows to no avail and were currently brainstorming possible strategies of attack should they find the demons. Most of them were occupying the couch and the chairs they had dragged over earlier. Paige was still determinedly flipping through the Book.

"Hi," Chris said, looking very uncomfortable as he surveyed the group.

"Chris, you're back," said Phoebe, a smile spreading across her face.

"Yeah… sorry about leaving like that. I had to sort through some stuff," Chris replied, running a shaky hand through his hair.

"No, I'm sorry," said Piper rising to her feet.

This statement seemed to startle Chris greatly and he took a step backwards in shock. "What?"

"I'm sorry for how I treated you," Piper apologized.

"What?" he repeated, looking at her in confusion. Piper had never apologized to him for anything before and certainly not for her indifference towards him all these months. He began to worry that LEO might have slipped his identity. "Really?"

She nodded and she took another step towards him as if she intended to hug him or something. "I didn't realize that you were so close to the family in the future, and here I was treating you like a stranger."

"It's okay," he said, gently pushing her away.

He really was not ready for Piper to be hugging him or anything. It reminded him too much of _her_- his mother. He knew that they were really one in the same, but to stay sane while he was in the past he had to separate them in his mind as two different people.

"No its not," she said firmly. "Especially after I learned what you went through when we died."

Chris's heart skipped a beat. "You told them?" he asked LEO.

"Not everything…" he replied, hoping that Chris would appreciate his discretion. LEO rose to his feet and walked over to the far corner of the attic and motioned Chris over to join him.

Chris followed, knowing that LEO probably wanted to speak somewhat privately. When he had reached the older man, LEO reached out to him, gently taking Chris's wrists into his hands once more. "Are you alright?"

Chris hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking down to for any tell tale signs that the opposite was true.

"I'm stronger than that now," he said softly, removing his arms from LEO's grasp and crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't have to worry."

Out of the corner of his eye he caught the strange look Paige had given him, but chalked it up to curiosity about his future relationship with LEO. She couldn't possibly know what he had been asking Chris.

Hoping to change the topic away from himself, he said, "I've been thinking over what you said… about Wyatt turning… and it makes sense. I don't know why I didn't think of it myself. I was so sure that something must have happened to him when he was younger that I didn't even consider any other possibility."

"It's okay," LEO said. "You didn't know. I probably would have thought the same thing."

"What did you tell them?" Chris wondered.

"Only what I had to. Just the basics."

Chris let out a breath in relief and nodded. He didn't think he'd be able to handle it if the sisters knew what had happened to him. The pair joined the others once more.

"So what you are going to do about the demons?" he asked the Charmed Ones, his arms still crossed over his chest.

"We're gong to vanquish every last one of those demons and stop our deaths from happening," said Paige, nodding her head as if it were a piece of cake.

Chris smirked. He knew that it wouldn't be that easy. "And do you know who they are?"

"Not a clue," she admitted, flipping through another page in the Book.

"Good start," he said, falling back in to the role of their annoying, sarcastic whitelighter.

"Thanks!" said Paige in a mocking tone.

"Chris, maybe you could help us," Phoebe began, rising from her seat to join the others around the podium.

"How?" he asked, already dreading where she was going with this.

"You were there during the attack… didn't you see anything that could help us?" she asked carefully. Now that they knew that Chris had been taken, she felt hesitant to put him through any of this, but knew that it was absolutely necessary.

Chris looked away and shook his head, not trusting his voice to say anything aloud. Truthfully he was probably no help to them anyway. He had fought for too long to forget everything that happened to him when he was taken. A mental block had formed as a result. As much as he wanted to save Wyatt… and possibly their mother, he was terrified to allow himself to remember any of those awful events. To do such would inevitably send him spiraling down a path of self destruction. They could never know the truth about what happened to him.

Paige stared at him in disbelief. "Really? Nothing?"

"No, alright?" Chris snapped at her. "I can't remember anything!"

"Sheesh… just asking," Paige said, holding her hands up in defense.

"How about a memory spell?" Phoebe suggested. "It could help you remember whatever you have suppressed."

Chris shook his head. "Bad idea. Last time you tried that Paige erased Piper's mind completely," he said.

Paige shifted uncomfortably still looking rather guilty about it all.

"Right… almost forgot about that one," Phoebe replied, looking disappointed.

Piper snorted. "I didn't."

"Sorry," Paige apologized to Piper once more, still looking quite sheepish. She flipped through a few more pages in the Book and said, "I'm beginning to think that the demons we're looking for aren't in here."

"You're probably right," said Piper. "It's most likely something that hasn't been dealt with before. Which means we won't know what we're up against until it's too late…"

Everyone gave her an incredulous look. "Sorry, bad choice of words."

"What if I tried to get a premonition off Chris?" asked Phoebe.

"Won't work," Chris said, shaking his head. "I've been around here for months now and you haven't gotten anything off me yet."

"Besides, you can't force your premonitions," Leo reminded her.

Phoebe seemed to think this over. "But what if we used a spell to help enhance them somehow?"

"What do you mean?" asked Piper, eyeing her skeptically.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know… maybe the spell can help direct the premonition so that I can tie into my empathic abilities or something. Maybe if I can see the memory that Chris- "

"Not going to happen," Chris said a little too loudly, as a shiver went down his spine. He was not about to let Phoebe see anything as personal as that. Besides, he had his identity to think about as well.

"Alright, fine," said Phoebe. "But it's something to think about."

"I think its time I went to see the elders about this," Leo said suddenly.

"What?" said Piper, looking reluctant to have Leo leave. "Do you think they know something?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot," he said, quickly orbing up to the heavens.

Chris sighed loudly and ran a tired hand over his face. "Seeing as we're out of options I guess I'll go to the underworld to see if I can find any leads," he said.

LEO was surprised by this knowing how much Chris had hated the idea of doing such a thing in the future. "Really?"

"Yeah, I have a few contacts that might be useful."

"I don't think that sounds very safe," LEO said, concern written all over his face.

"Don't worry," said Paige, waving him off. "Chris is in the underworld like all the time."

"Maybe I should come with you," he offered.

LEO dreaded the idea of returning to that awful place, especially after spending the last six years in a small cave in a remote corner of the underworld, but he wanted to help nonetheless. He knew that he wouldn't be of much use without his powers, but the thought of his son in the underworld alone simply terrified him.

Chris ignored him and orbed out before he could even protest. LEO whirled around in frustration only to find himself face to face with Piper, a smirk plastered on his face.

"You seem to send Chris running every chance he gets. What's up with that?" she asked.

"I guess deep down he's still upset with me," LEO shrugged. "I wasn't there for him when he needed me most."

"It will take some time," Phoebe offered, sensing how much pain LEO was in. "There's a lot of history between you, isn't there?"

LEO nodded.

"Wait, a minute…" said Paige looking as though she suddenly remembered something. "I thought you said that it took you three days to find Chris. Wouldn't he have seen what the demons looked like during that time or at least know where we might go to look for them?"

"I don't know," LEO admitted. "He's always said that he can't remember what happened to him. He's never talked about it with me, and I think to some degree he really has blocked it out."

"How old was he?" she asked.

"Fourteen."

"So young…" Phoebe said, sounding sad. "That had to be traumatic. No wonder he's blocked it out."

LEO merely nodded.

"But why don't you know what they look like?" Piper asked, seemingly confused. "I know you said that you weren't there during the attack, but you had to have seen them when you found Chris. Didn't you?"

"Actually, we didn't. Wyatt and I found him alone in an abandoned cave in the underworld," LEO explained, steadying himself by taking a shaky breath.

He would never forget the condition he had found his son in. Chris had been filthy, half naked, and nearly catatonic. He refused to speak a word about what had happened, but his numerous injuries had spoken volumes. The horror that Chris must have lived through nearly tore LEO apart. They could only assume that he was finally able to use his powers to get away somehow, but was unable to orb out of the chamber he had found himself in. It had taken him awhile to even recognize that his father and brother had found him.

"I think Wyatt may have figured it out later, but he never told me who they were," he said.

LEO and his eldest son had had a countless number of fights about the fact that Wyatt had become hell bent on revenge. At the time LEO was desperately trying to care for Chris, nearly at his wits end with the distraught teenager. He had wanted to chase after Wyatt on more than one occasion and drag him back home, but it had been too dangerous to leave Chris alone. Wyatt hadn't really understood why his father didn't want to vanquish the demon's himself or why he tried to stop him at every turn. Wyatt was struggling too much with his own grief to realize that his father simply wanted to keep him safe. To lose another family member or to find them in the same condition as Chris was in would have sent LEO over the edge.

Paige screwed her face as if she were trying to concentrate. "You said that it takes place fourteen years into the future and that Chris was fourteen when he was taken…. so does that mean that Chris is like a baby now?" asked Paige, looking surprised.

"Or maybe he hasn't been born yet," Phoebe offered.

"Something like that," LEO admitted.

"That's interesting. You said that we're close to his family," said Piper. "Do we know them already?"

"I can't tell you that," he said firmly.

Piper sighed, looking defeated. "Whatever."

LEO rubbed his face tiredly. It had been an extremely long day and the weakness he was still feeling from his captivity only magnified the emotional exhaustion that had plagued him since coming to the past. It was to the point that he couldn't even think straight anymore.

The sisters must have noticed how tired LEO was, and they decided to call it a night. They would wait until morning to finish discussing all of this when their heads were hopefully a little more clear. By then they hoped Chris would have found something out or at the very least have an answer from the elders about which demons could cause their future deaths.

They headed down the stairs to the second floor and Phoebe and Paige headed to their own rooms respectively.

"I'll sleep on the couch downstairs," LEO said politely, as they paused in the doorway of Piper's room.

Piper shook her head and put a hand on his arm to stop him from moving. "No LEO, I want you to take my room tonight. I'm going to sleep on a cot in Wyatt's room," she explained.

LEO was surprised by this. "I can't take your bed. What about Leo?"

"What about him?" she asked.

"Why isn't he sleeping with you?"

Piper sighed. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that," she said.

"About what?" he asked, feeling rather confused now.

"I noticed you're still wearing your wedding ring," she said, taking his left hand into her own and tracing the ring he wore almost fondly.

"Of course I am. Just because you passed away, it doesn't mean I still don't honor our marriage," he said softly.

Piper smiled and released his hand. "That's thoughtful of you, it's just that there's something I don't understand."

"What?"

"Leo and I are broken up…"

This shocked LEO. "What? Why?"

"It's complicated… things just got too hard when Leo began an elder. I asked him to give me some space," she said. She then noticed the distressed look on LEO's face. "You look upset. What's wrong?"

"That didn't happen in my past… that shouldn't have happened…" LEO couldn't have been more upset with Chris just now. Not only had Chris jeopardized Leo's marriage to Piper, but he also put into question his own existence. "We were still together."

"I kind of suspected that, especially after Leo told me that you said you became an elder a couple of years from now," she said. "The timeline is changing again…"

LEO knew she was referring to her sister Prue. When Piper and her sisters had traveled to the future before, Prue was still alive and Piper saw that she had a daughter. A lot had changed from that original timeline and it seemed as though another one had already begun.

"Piper, I don't how to say this, but… my being an elder didn't cause our marriage to end in my timeline... it doesn't have to this time around either…"

Piper gave him a pained smiled. "Thank you for telling me that… now, I insist that you take the bedroom."

"I really can't. It's not right," he tried as she led him by the hand into the bedroom.

"No seriously. It's fine. I'm all set up in Wyatt's room and Leo can sleep on the couch downstairs if he returns from seeing the elders tonight. He hasn't been staying here anyway. You need to rest in a proper bed," she insisted.

LEO looked around bedroom fondly and admired the queen size bed. "I must admit, it's been a while since I've had a bed to sleep in."

"I figured as much." Piper turned to go but then turned back around at the last moment.

Before he realized what she was doing, she had crossed the distance between them and embraced him in a hug. She squeezed him tightly and he allowed himself to rest his forehead on her shoulder, breathing in her scent. It had been so long since he had held her like this and he had to remind himself that this wasn't his wife anymore.

"I'm sorry for leaving you…" she whispered.

LEO choked back a sob and pulled away quickly. He took a breath and composed himself, knowing he couldn't allow himself to breakdown in front of her. She had enough to deal with right now.

"Will you be alright?" she asked, sensing his pain.

LEO smiled at her thoughtfulness. Even after all these years he still loved her with all of his heart. "Yes, I'll be fine," he lied. "What about you? Are you alright?"

Piper paused a moment, as if choosing her words. "I'm just trying to come to terms that I will die young."

"That won't happen now," Leo said determinedly. "We're going to change it."

She nodded, looking uncertain, and bid him goodnight before quietly closing the door behind her.

LEO stripped down to his boxers and t-shirt and climbed into bed, barely noticing the softness of the sheets and blanket. Memories of sleeping beside his wife and making love to her in this very bed came flooding back and he quietly wept for his loss. Even being in the past couldn't quell his misery over losing her; it only made everything so much more fresh in his memory.

Exhausted as he was, LEO soon succumbed to a restless sleep. He had long become accustomed to his nightmares, but it didn't make them any easier to bear. Dreams of death and blood and pills and hospitals and demons and captivity and despair plagued him for most of the night. He could only pray that they could find the demon's responsible so that they could stop those future events from ever happening.

He owed Chris at least that much.

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A/N: I know Chris seems to keep popping in and out of this story, but I swear he becomes a more prominent character in the rest of the chapters.


	9. An Unexpected Revelation

**Chapter 9- An Unexpected Revelation**

After a restless and dream filled night, LEO finally managed to enter into a deep sleep some time around dawn. Taking full advantage of the luxurious bed he was sleeping in, he allowed himself to sleep away most of the morning. When he finally decided to rise from his much needed slumber he saw that it was almost noon.

Taking it upon himself to borrow some more of the present Leo's clothes, he dressed quickly and then went downstairs to find the others. LEO was about to enter the kitchen when he heard the conversation that was going on between Piper and Paige. Curious, he hid on the other side of the wall and listened.

"What are you saying?" asked Piper, sounding irritated.

"I don't know," said Paige. "I just get the feeling that something more is going on with Chris that LEO isn't telling us."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when Chris got angry that LEO was going to tell us about our deaths and was trying to leave, LEO said to him, '_Don't do anything because you're upset with me.'_"

LEO felt his heartbeat quicken and wondered how much Paige had actually figured out.

"So?"

"So… when he got back I saw LEO take him to the corner and ask if he was alright," Paige explained.

"So?" Piper said again, not following her sister's line of reasoning.

"So, he was holding Chris by the arms…and it seemed like it meant something," she said. "And then Chris said '_Don't worry, I'm stronger than that now.'_ "

There was a long pause and it was clear Piper didn't know what to say in response.

"Don't you get it…?" Paige said in an annoyed tone. "I've seen this kind of thing before when I was working as a social worker."

"You're going to have to spell this one out to me because I really don't understand what you are getting at."

Paige sighed in frustration. "I think whatever happened to Chris when we are attacked in the future really affected him badly… I think he used to hurt himself… "

"What? Why?" Piper asked, her voice laced with concerned.

"I don't know… maybe to help cope or something. Whatever happened to him… I think it's bad," Paige said softly.

"That's awful," Piper replied. "I had no idea."

"I know. Should we ask LEO about it?"

"I don't think so… at least not right now. He's seems to have enough to deal with at the moment."

LEO nodded at her comment, but then realized the girls couldn't see him nor did they know he was eavesdropping on their conversation. He was sure that Chris didn't want them to ever know what he had been through or how he had handled it. And he was positive he didn't want to have to explain any of that himself. It was much too painful to go through the first time around.

* * *

_After a nice long shower, Leo knocked lightly on the door of the room Chris was staying in. When he didn't hear his son answer, he opened the door and peered inside. He was surprised to find the bed vacated. Chris hadn't left his bed in the days since they had found him in the underworld. The last tray of food Leo had brought was left untouched on his bedside table. Chris hadn't been eating very much lately and Leo was growing more and more concerned about his youngest son. He had become painfully thin and his near catatonic state signaled the emotional turmoil that was raging inside of him. He had even refused to attend the funeral services for his mother and aunts, which really hadn't surprise his father. Leo had hardly been able to go himself._

_Chris hadn't spoken a word about what had happened to him, but Leo was able to determine a little of what he had gone through from having healed his numerous injuries. He had been horrified to discover how thoroughly his little boy had been abused, and he was at loss as to how to help his son._

_When it was clear after an emotional breakdown that Chris couldn't handle staying in the manor, Leo decided that they needed to leave. Victor's apartment was too small to accommodate the three of them so they had moved into the Mitchell's place. Henry, who was still grieving himself, had taken the twins upstate to a cabin he was renting from a friend. He had allowed Wyatt, Chris, and Leo to move in temporarily. _

_The Elder had hoped and prayed that a change in environment would eventually help Chris come to terms with what had happened, but that notion was looking less and less likely. He knew Chris probably needed professional help, but it was rather complicated. They couldn't exactly explain that it was demons that had murdered his mother and aunts and had tortured Chris. _

_Leo felt his chest constrict in panic and began to search the house one room at a time feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. He even tried sensing for him, but couldn't feel Chris anywhere. Although he feared his son could have been taken to the underworld again, some part of him felt that Chris could simply be blocking him. When he was unable to locate Chris, Leo called for Wyatt._

"_Yeah Dad, what is it?" Wyatt asked tiredly, once he had orbed into the living room. _

_Leo didn't even bother to question where Wyatt had been. His eldest had been rather absent lately, and he was pretty sure that the teenager was on a demon killing spree in an attempt to deal with his pain. Leo knew that he had to deal with Wyatt eventually, but he had enough on his own plate to handle. His grief over losing the sisters was just too great, and he was sad and frustrated trying to help Chris deal with the anguish he was facing. There was simply only so much one angel could handle._

"_Do you know where Chris is?"_

_Wyatt seemed surprised. "He's not in his room?"_

"_No, I searched the house and I can't sense him either."_

_Wyatt seemed to think about his for a moment. "Did you try the basement?"_

_Leo shook his head as he started moving. "No, I didn't even think of it," he answered. _

_The two quickly headed toward the kitchen and found the door to the basement stairs to be slightly ajar. Opening the door the rest of the way they called out to Chris as they descended the stairs in darkness. There was no reply._

_At the foot of the stairs, Leo felt along the wall for a light switch. He found it and flicked it on, bathing the Mitchell's unfinished basement in an odd yellow glow. At first he was disappointed that they hadn't found Chris._

_But then Wyatt sucked in his breath and whispered, "Dad…"_

_Following the direction Wyatt was pointing, Leo saw his youngest son lying in the far corner, partially hidden in darkness. Chris must have cloaked himself for some reason so that he wouldn't be found. Leo ran to his side only discover that his son was covered in blood and it was beginning to pool on the concrete floor. Memories of discovering his wife in such a condition only a couple of weeks ago filled Leo and he feared the worst._

"_No, no, no… Chris, No!" he said mournfully, taken in Chris's pale face._

_He quickly checked to see if his son had a pulse and with relief found that Chris had a very weak one. His breathing was rather shallow as well. Thankful that he had made it here in time, Leo raised his hands to heal his son._

_A yellow glow emitted from his hands, but for some strange reason the odd looking cuts that marred his sons' arms weren't healing. "Why isn't this working?" he asked himself, willing Chris's body to start stitching itself back together._

_Wyatt knelt down beside him and picked up something that had been lying beside Chris. "Dad, look…"_

_Turning his head, Leo saw that Wyatt was holding a kitchen knife, one that Chris had obviously taken from his uncle's kitchen. Tears filled his eyes as he realized what his son had attempted to do._

"_These are self inflicted," he said aloud, mostly to himself. "I can't heal him."_

"_Why not?" asked Wyatt irritably._

"_I don't know… those are just the rules… I have to get him to the hospital."_

_Remembering his days as an army medic, Leo ripped off the sleeves of his shirt and used them to tightly bandage Chris's arms. He would have like to make tourniquets as well, but figured there wasn't time. He carefully lifted his son and orbed away to a location inside the hospital, just out of view of anyone who might see them. He then ran to the emergency room and flagged down one of the residents, his heart pounding. Unable to heal his son himself, Leo knew that time was of the essence. There was still a chance he could lose Chris._

_He set Chris down on a gurney and watched as the doctor quickly began to assess the situation. Tears began to cascade down Leo's tired face and a deep pain began to fill his chest._

_Wyatt suddenly appeared beside him and he reached out to embrace him, holding onto his son for dear life. They had both been through so much; Leo wasn't sure how much more they could take. _

_Unfortunately, this suicide attempt was only the first. Chris was suffering so much more than any of them knew…_

* * *

LEO heard a pause in their conversation and was shaken from his memories. He wondered if they had heard him on the other side of the entryway. Not wanting to be discovered, he quickly moved away from the door and around the corner. He passed the dining room and inadvertently entered the conservatory. Realizing where he was, LEO quickly turned to leave only to discover Wyatt in the play pen.

He smiled as he watched his infant son play with the brightly colored foam blocks Piper had left him with. Any lingering thoughts over unpleasant events in the future began to dissolve as he watched the pure innocence playing before him. It was easier to try and pretend that none of it had ever happened then to dwell on the inevitable.

"Hey little buddy, what do you got there?" LEO asked as he sat down beside the play pen in one of the white wicker chairs.

Wyatt smiled up at him and happily babbled a string of nonsense in response. LEO decided to pick him up and cuddle his son close. Holding the small child and hearing Wyatt laugh, he could almost forget the horrific events that would occur here in fourteen years. But he allowed his eyes to linger for a little too long on the center of the room where Piper's body will eventually lay so lifeless and cold. Finally deciding that he couldn't handle sitting in there anymore, LEO carried Wyatt into the kitchen to find Piper.

"Hi, did you sleep well?" she asked, as he walked into the room.

"I did," he said with an affectionate smile. "Thanks for the bed."

"No problem," she said, screwing a nipple onto the top of a bottle. "I was just fixing Wyatt a bottle. Do you want to feed him?"

"Sure," he said, taking the bottle from her and sitting down at the kitchen table.

He sat Wyatt on his lap facing outwards. LEO still remembered that this was the way his son liked to sit when he drank from his bottle. For whatever reason, Wyatt never cared to take his bottle lying down at this age and much rather sit up and see what was going on. LEO brought the formula to his son's lips and heard him slurp happily in response.

"You're good with him," Piper commented as a wide smile crossed her face.

"I hope so," he said. "I am his father."

"I just thought that after what our son does to you in the future, you might not want to even hold him," she admitted.

"I thought so too at first," he said. LEO looked down at Wyatt and then leaned his face into his soft blond curls, smelling his sweet baby scent. "But it wouldn't be fair to hold a grudge against him for something he hasn't done yet. Right now he's still my little boy."

Piper nodded and turned towards the refrigerator. "Can I fix you some lunch?"

"If you don't mind, that would be nice…"

"Of course, I was just going to eat myself," she said, grabbing a few things from various shelves and piling them into her arms. "Is chicken salad on wheat okay?"

"Still my favorite," he commented.

She smiled once more and he was amazed how much he was at ease with her even after all these years. It was still very surreal being here in the past and there were times he felt that he might lose it completely. But he was beginning to adjust to the notion that he might be able to help change the future and that was all that mattered to him now.

"Where are the others?" he asked, while he watched Piper move effortlessly around the kitchen.

"Hmm?" Piper said, having not heard him while she worked.

"Where are the others?"

"Oh…Phoebe is at work and you just missed Paige. She got a call about a job from the temp agency and decided to check it out," she explained as she fixed the sandwiches. "Our Leo checked with the Elders but they didn't know of any demons that might hold a grudge against us, so he is doing some research or something."

"At magic school?" he asked.

"Yes, how did you know? I never heard of it until today," she said, setting a plate of sandwiches down on the table and sitting beside him.

LEO gave her a smirk and then she realized her error. "Right- you are him so of course you would know- so why didn't you tell me about magic school before now?"

LEO shrugged and grabbed a sandwich. "Probably never came up," he said, before taking a large bite. He was amazed that he still knew how to feed Wyatt with one hand and feed himself with the other. It was a skill that all parents come to know when they raise a little one.

Piper sighed in frustration and took a sandwich herself.

"Where's Chris?" asked LEO, remembering that his son had left last night to check out a few leads in the underworld.

"I'm not sure. He hasn't returned yet," she admitted.

"Really? Is that normal?" he asked, feeling himself begin to panic.

"Oh sure," Piper said casually. "He does this sort of thing all the time. Don't worry about it."

LEO nodded but her comment had not made him feel any better. If anything, it probably made him feel worse. He was still amazed at the lengths Chris was willing to go to save his brother even after all that he had suffered.

They sat in amiable silence while they each munched on their chicken salad sandwiches. So lost they were in their own thoughts that they were taken completely by surprise when a demon shimmered into the kitchen and conjured a fire ball.

"Wyatt, demon!" Piper shouted.

The little boy quickly raised his shield and surrounded both he and LEO with the bright blue glow of his protective ward.

Piper quickly stood up and tried blowing the demon up, but found she could only move him back a few inches. She then raised her hands in a gesture to freeze him, but again nothing happened.

"Uh-oh. That's not good," she commented, just as a fire ball whizzed past her head. "LEO orb Wyatt out of here."

"I can't," he said in frustration. "I don't have my powers anymore."

"Shit, that's right," said Piper as she stood behind the pair's protective bubble.

The demon looked rather human dressed in all black. He had an evil grin on his face and seemed rather amused. He conjured another fireball and began circling around the kitchen looking for an opening in the boy's shield.

"Wyatt, sweetie, orb to Daddy!" Piper commanded, trying to keep her voice calm.

Wyatt looked up at her with confusion and she realized her mistake. As far as Wyatt knew he was sitting on his Daddy's lap. He had made no distinction between the two versions of Leo yet.

"Um, Piper…" LEO began to say, as he stood up with Wyatt in his arms.

"Yeah, I know, I know," she said, trying to blow the demon up once more.

They slowly backed out of the kitchen with the demon looming ever closer. "What is it you want?" she asked the demon.

"An eye for any eye," he said, throwing another fireball their way. It rebounded off Wyatt's shield and for just a moment the shield seemed to falter. Wyatt began to cry in response. "One of you killed my brother, so now one of yours will die as well."

"Oh great," Piper muttered. "A demon with a vendetta."

"You need your sisters," LEO suggested, clutching the crying baby closer.

"Paige!" Piper called, ducking from another fireball as she dived behind the couch. "Paige! I need you."

Piper tried repeatedly blowing up the demon, knowing that it wouldn't work, but hoping she could impede his assault. When her youngest sister didn't appear for several moments, Piper called for her whitelighters. "Chris! Leo!"

The pair orbed in separately and quickly saw the dire situation. Using his telekinetic energy Chris threw the demon into the wall, hoping that it would slow him down long enough for them to escape.

LEO quickly handed the baby to his past self and said, "Take Wyatt up there! Quick!"

Leo nodded and orbed away with Wyatt in his arms. The demon quickly righted itself and was now throwing fire balls in their general direction. All three of them dived out of the way. Chris rolled to the side and jumped up only to see the demon throw a fireball at LEO.

"Dad! NO!" Chris shouted without thinking. He then pushed the man out of the way and tried to deflect he fireball, but it was too late. It struck him in the shoulder, knocking him back several feet.

Through his pain, he looked up and saw the demon smile as he readied another flaming ball. This time Chris was ready and just as the demon threw it at him to make the kill shot, he redirected it straight back at the demon using his telekinesis. The fire hit him square in the chest and the demon erupted in flames, screaming manically.

LEO ran to his side. "Chris, are you alright?" he asked, as he helped the younger man up.

"I think so," he said, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. "It isn't fatal at least."

Piper stood there just staring at the two of them with her mouth wide open.

"What?" asked Chris, faltering under her scrutiny.

Her face was a mixture of emotions and he couldn't make out what she was thinking. She turned her face upwards and yelled, "Leo! Get back down here right now!"

Leo quickly orbed in with Wyatt still in his arms. "Is everyone okay?"

"Heal your son," she ordered.

Leo looked at her with confusion and then at the little boy he was holding. "He's hurt? I didn't notice…"

"Not Wyatt. Your other son," she said pointing to Chris, who was staring at the floor.

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked, handing a much calmer Wyatt off to Piper.

"Yeah, what are you talking about?" asked Chris in a nonchalant tone.

"You need to heal Chris," she said simply.

Leo nodded and raised his hands towards Chris's shoulder. A warm yellow glow spread beneath them, patching the burned flesh beneath.

"But you said-" Leo began.

"I know what I said."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Chris, putting up a good front while Leo healed him.

"I heard you. You called him Dad," Piper said softly, gesturing now towards LEO.

"Dad?" Leo asked, as he finished healing the witch lighter.

Chris swallowed thickly and looked away.

"So it's true?" she asked in disbelief.

Chris didn't say a word in response, but seemed to sway on his feet slightly from his exhaustion.

"Yes, it is," said LEO, steadying his son with a hand on his shoulder. "Let's all just sit down."

"No, I need to get going," Chris said, making a move to push his father away and orb out of there.

"Not this time, you won't," said LEO, keeping a firm grip on his son. "We're going to talk about this whether you like it or not."

The group moved towards the couches and sat down in stony silence. No one seemed to know what to say. Suddenly the sound of orbs filled the room.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry…" Paige began to say before her orbs had even fully materialized. "I was at my temp job and it was nearly impossible for me to leave and find some place to orb away. I swear that place is just packed with people."

She saw the damage in the living room and everyone looking as though they were in shock and said, "What happened?"

"A demon attacked," said LEO.

"Don't forget the important part," Piper commanded.

"And Chris revealed that I am his father," LEO awkwardly added.

Paige's mouth opened in shock. "What? Really?"

LEO nodded and Chris looked away. There was a moment of silence as Paige began to put the pieces together.

"Huh… well that's certainly not what I expected when I orbed here," she said with a shrug. "I know you two are separated and all but I just can't see you having a son with another woman, LEO."

"I didn't," said LEO. "He's Piper's son as well."

"Oh… Oh!" Paige said, her eyes bright with realization. She was quiet again for a moment, not quite knowing what to say at to this shocking revelation. As she thought it over she stared at Chris and wondering why she hadn't seen the familial similarities before. "Well that makes a lot of sense. So you came back to save your brother?" she asked Chris.

Chris could only nod in reply, unable to meet her gaze.

Piper, who was still holding baby Wyatt and had been staring off in space all this time, finally raised her eyes to meet her sister's. "Can you please get Phoebe? I think it's time we had a family meeting."

Paige nodded and quickly orbed away, leaving the group behind to wait in awkward silence.


	10. Daddy Issues

**Chapter 10- Daddy Issues**

"What's going on?" asked Phoebe as she materialized along side Paige in a swirl of bright orbs. "I thought we agreed that I could spend the day at work since I took off yesterday."

"Yeah, well that was before a demon attacked," said Piper, giving her sister a meaningful look as she bounced Wyatt on her lap to keep him happy.

"What? Is everyone okay?" she asked worriedly, surveying the group that was seated around the living room. She could see that the room had sustained some damage, but nothing they weren't used to cleaning up.

"So to speak," Piper replied, looking not quite herself. She brushed her fingers through Wyatt's hair, trying to calm her nerves. "Did you tell her?" she asked Paige.

"No."

"What's wrong?" Phoebe asked, feeling all of the tension in the room. She slid onto the couch beside Piper and Leo trying to make sense of the myriad of feelings that were bombarding her, despite the empathic blocking potions her family had taken. "What's happened?"

When no one spoke, Paige said, "Maybe Chris should tell you."

"Tell me what?" Phoebe asked, looking to Chris now.

He was seated with his arms crossed protectively across his chest. He looked away and muttered, "It's really not that big of a deal."

"Well, I think it is," said Piper, almost angrily. "And I don't understand why you didn't tell us earlier?"

Phoebe looked back and forth between them. "Tell us what? Something about the future?" she asked hopefully.

"Just get on with it already," Paige said, rolling her eyes as she sat down on the edge of the couch. "Phoebe is about to burst with curiosity."

Phoebe nodded growing frustrated that she was apparently the only one that wasn't in on whatever Chris had to tell her.

Chris sighed and finally said, "I'm your nephew."

"Huh? What?" said Phoebe, absolutely dumbfounded at this revelation. "Could you say that again?"

"I'm Piper and Leo's son," he said with a shrug.

"Really?" Phoebe's mouth fell open and she looked back and forth between Chris and the couple sitting beside her. She then glanced atthe toddler on Piper's lap. "So that means you're Wyatt's little brother?"

He nodded.

"I get to be an auntie again?" she squealed excitedly.

Chris nodded again slowly, clearly amused by his aunt's behavior.

"I bet you are going to be the cutest little baby," Phoebe said high pitched voice, squinting her nose and trying to imagine a younger version of Chris while she simulated pinching a pair of chubby baby cheeks. "I can't wait! Wyatt, your little brother is going to be so cute. I just know it!"

"Phoebe, he's twenty-two not two!" Paige chided her.

"I know, I know… but this is huge! Everything makes so much more sense," said Phoebe, sounding relieved. "Of course only family would travel through time to change something this big. Don't you think?"

She turned to Piper and Leo and she could see that they were clearly not amused. This information was staggering to say the least and apparently they were not taking it well. And judging from the way Chris was acting, he wasn't faring much better.

Piper sighed and stood up with Wyatt. She quickly dragged the playpen into the living room and set Wyatt in it with a few toys and the bottle she had prepared earlier. Wyatt clumsily picked the bottle up, still learning to feed himself, and happily began to slurp his formula. Piper then resumed her position next to Leo on the couch.

"I take it Chris didn't just come out and tell you, so how did you all find out?" Phoebe asked.

LEO cleared his throat and said, "Chris called me 'Dad' when I was about to be attacked by the demon. He pushed me out of the way and saved me, only to get injured himself."

"Oh." Phoebe smiled knowing how much Chris was probably beating himself up inside over slipping like that. He looked perfectly fine now so she assumed that he had already been healed by Leo.

"So when will you be born?" Paige asked Chris curiously.

When Chris refused to answer, LEO said, "A little less than a year from now."

Paige's eyebrows rose in surprise. "So Piper…. anything you want to tell us?"

"I'm not pregnant," she said firmly. "There is no way that I can be. Leo and I-" she stopped there when she realized how personal this was getting.

Paige seemed to ponder this. "Did you think about your own existence when you split them up?" she asked Chris.

Chris shook his head and softly said, "I didn't know that would happen."

LEO put a comforting hand on his son's arm and looked to Piper and Leo sitting across from them. "Things can change, you know. Piper and I made it work when I became an elder… you can still too."

Piper and Leo nodded at LEO, grateful that at least they knew there was a chance. They then looked to one another, but neither seemed to be able to say anything. Leo hesitantly reached down and grabbed Piper's hand in his own and she smiled at him warmly. It wasn't much, but at least it was a beginning.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Piper finally asked her son, looking a little sad and a lot less angry now.

Chris shrugged. "You weren't supposed to know."

"But why?"

Chris sighed in frustration. "You know why… you've been to both the future and the past. Too much can change if you're not careful. There can be consequences."

"A lot can change," Piper agreed wistfully, still remembering the future they had seen with Prue in it.

"I still wish I had known," said Leo, looking as though he was upset with himself. "I've treated you awfully… I'm sorry that I didn't trust you…"

Chris tried to shrug indifferently, but it was easy to see that it had bothered him more than he care to let on. "It's okay. If I were in your position, I probably wouldn't have trusted me either," he said.

"I know I haven't been that kind to you, but am I… was I a good mother?" Piper asked.

Chris' eyes began to shine and he swallowed thickly. "You were the best."

This made Piper smile and her own eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you growing up. I know how hard it is to not have a mother…"

Chris nodded and but seemed unable to say anything else. He looked uncomfortable and LEO knew enough to change the subject.

"So did you find anything out from the Elders?" LEO asked his younger self, though he knew from Piper that he hadn't.

"Not really…" said Leo.

Paige threw up her hands in aggravation. "Well that is completely unhelpful! Shouldn't we just assume that some future Source is the one that comes after us? That's usually who wants us dead."

LEO shook his head. "I thought of that too, but there was no Source at the time you were all killed. The Charmed Ones had just vanquished the last one and another had yet to rise to power."

"What else do we have to go on?" Phoebe asked, rubbing at her temples in frustration.

"The Elders seem to think that the demons responsible for the Charmed Ones deaths haven't come into power yet or that they haven't assembled as a clan yet," Leo offered. "I know it's not a lot, but it's at least something."

"Wait, I thought that demons are born into clans?" she asked, sounding confused.

"Usually they are," Leo responded. "But occasionally a band of demons from different backgrounds will come together to form a new clan in order to gain power."

Phoebe shook her head. "But we've never come up against a clan like that. It seems like there would have to be a lot of different demons with a lot of different powers in such a clan. The only clans we've met all shared similar powers."

"I think Leo is right," said LEO, looking contemplative. "In the future the Charmed Ones will be killed all on the same day by different demons with different methods of killing."

"Couldn't that have been a coincidence?" asked Paige. They all looked at her in disbelief. "Alright, alright. That would be quite coincidence. So how do we find these demons?"

"It almost sounds like they would be trying to organize the underworld," said Piper. "But I never heard of that happening without a clear Source."

"It's possible that would a clan would try," said Leo. "All of the recent Sources of evil have had relatively short terms. If the clan was built slowly over time, they could organize the underworld by gaining numbers and eliminating any opposition."

"All the clans we've been up against so far had a leader of some sort. Maybe if we figure out who it is we can stop them from ever assembling," suggested Paige.

"Any ideas how we figure this one out?" asked Piper, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I tried to do some research at magic school but I didn't find anything useful," said Leo, looking disappointed.

"What about you Chris? Did you learn anything from your underworld contacts?" Paige asked.

"No. I poked around as much as I could without being conspicuous, but I haven't heard anything," Chris said, sounding disappointed.

"Maybe you should try going in disguise and infiltrate a demon bar or something," Paige suggested.

Chris gave her an incredulous look. "How do you think I find my contacts?" he said in a mocking tone. "It's not like they're going to spill their secrets to a witchlighter."

"Witchlighter?" she said looking amused at the term.

"Future slang," he responded with a shrug. Paige only raised her eyebrows in response.

"Have you tried looking for the cave you were taken to when you were captured?" Phoebe suggested. "If this is a clan we're dealing with than it's reasonable to assume they might-"

"God, what do you people think I'm trying to do!" Chris suddenly shouted, standing up from the couch angrily. "Of course I'm doing all of those things! Do you have so little faith in me?"

"Well, we're just trying to help and it's not like you've found anything out yet. Maybe you aren't looking in the right places," Paige countered.

"You're unbelievable…" he muttered. They were acting as though he weren't even trying.

"What? What did I say?"

"I'm not taking this anymore," said Chris in frustration. "I'm out of here."

"Don't leave," said Piper, who had been rather quiet all this time.

"Sorry," Chris responded softly, before disappearing in a swirl of orbs.

"Where is he going?" Piper asked Leo as her new found son orbed away once again.

Leo closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. "He must have gone to the underworld because he is off my radar."

"Seriously, what is with him?" Phoebe asked. "Any time we get remotely close to a serious conversation with him he takes off."

"It's hard to explain…" LEO responded, feeling just as frustrated.

"Well, try," Piper said, her arms still crossed over her chest.

"He's trying his best and you just gave him the impression that it's not good enough."

"I didn't mean to do that," said Paige looking as though she felt badly about snapping at her nephew. "I just want to get to the bottom of this."

"We all do," said Phoebe. "But it's going to be hard if Chris isn't willing to work with us."

"He's trying to."

Paige rolled her eyes. "Doesn't seem like it."

"You need to remember how hard this must be for him… he witnessed his mother's death and his aunts were taken from him on the same day," LEO said slowly.

"Not to mention that he was captured as well," Leo added thoughtfully.

LEO nodded. "And it isn't easy being the past with you all, especially because when he goes back to the future you may not be there."

"But we're going to change that," Paige protested.

"It doesn't make this any easier," LEO said. "Whether we change the future or not, he's still left with a lot of painful memories… I should know…"

"I'm sorry," Piper said softly as she rose from her seat and sat down again beside him. She then reached over and taking his hand into her own. "I never thought of it that way."

"I think he's afraid to get too close because subconsciously he doesn't want to be hurt again. It's hard for him to open up… to me especially. He's just been through so much," he said, squeezing Piper's hand.

"But you're his father, why does he have such a hard time opening up to you?" Piper asked.

LEO sighed. "For a lot of reasons, really…" he said, remembering some of the difficult decisions he had to make in order to save his son.

* * *

_Leo walked into Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute in San Francisco and checked in at the main desk. By now he was used to their procedures and signed his name under the list of visitors after saying hello to the receptionist. She was a pretty girl named Sara and she seemed to have taken a liking to Leo and his family. She buzzed him in and he quickly made his way down the corridors to the bank of elevators at the far end. _

_He rode the nearest elevator to the third floor. When the doors opened, he saw Chris's doctor standing at the nurse's station writing in a patient's chart. The small woman had salt and pepper hair cut in a simple bob and wore a pair of horned rimmed glasses._

"_Kim…" he called out to his former charge. She was one of the potential whitelighters that Leo had to give up years ago when he decided to focus his attention solely on the Charmed Ones._

_The older woman turned when she heard someone call her by her first name and saw that it was Leo. She smiled sadly. "It's good to see you again so soon, Leo. I thought you might have given up for awhile."_

"_I can't… Do you think he will see me today?" he asked hopefully._

"_I don't know. He's still pretty bitter that you brought him here."_

_Leo sighed and ran a tired hand over his face. "I know… but I didn't have any other choice. He needed help..."_

"_You're right, he did," she said simply. "I know it's hard that he doesn't want to see you, but at least he still seems to respond to Wyatt."_

"_Yeah…" _

_Things had seemed to be a little better after Chris had recovered from slicing his arms open, but looks were apparently deceiving. After his second suicide attempt (using alcohol and pills) Leo realized that Chris needed more help then he and Wyatt had to offer. He had brought Chris to the only person he knew that could help him without revealing his magical heritage, Dr. Kim Stevens._

_Leo had admitted his youngest son to Langley Porter a few weeks ago. Chris had been understandably upset about the whole ordeal and had refused to see his father since then, though he did allow Wyatt to come visit him. Because he was a minor, Leo technically did not have __to __give in to the teenager's demands, but abided by them anyway assuming that Chris needed some space._

_Kim reached out and patted Leo on the shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry. You did the right thing bringing him here."_

_Leo nodded. "I just need to get through to him somehow."_

"_You will find a way. I'm sure of it."_

"_How's he doing with the therapy?" Leo asked._

_Dr. Stevens looked pensive for a moment. "Better, I think. He's talked about his mother's death and the suicide attempts, but not what happened to him. I don't know if he ever will… we keep getting close and he's been acting out a bit because of it… I guess this is where I should tell you that there's been a new development…"_

"_What is it?" Leo asked worriedly._

"_He's picked up a new habit," she explained, knowing that Leo would understand what she meant. _

_When he was first brought here Chris had refused to eat in protest, hoping that his father would eventually spring him from the hospital before allowing him to starve. When that didn't happen, he had reluctantly begun to accept the meals that were brought to him, though Chris never ate much in spite._

"_What?"_

_She looked around to make sure they were alone and said, "He's been attempting to self mutilate his body?"  
_

"_What!"_

"_Shh… it's okay. We're monitoring him by live video feed now, just in case. He hasn't really been successful. He used his nails to claw his skin first and then began to use the plastic ware that came on his meal trays. He barely broke the skin, but the wounds he did sustain are healing with minimal scarring. We're addressing it in therapy…but I must tell you that when we discovered this issue we had to sedate him that evening and place him in restraints to prevent him from harming himself any further. The episode was pretty bad, but I think the worst has passed."_

"_But why? Why is he doing that? Is he trying to kill himself again?" Leo asked exasperatedly. _

"_No, it's not like that. It's a coping mechanism. I can give you some literature on the subject if you'd like?" she asked._

_Leo nodded, feeling more and more drained by the second. "Yes, thank you… could you please ask Chris if he will see me?" he asked, growing tired of his son's attempts to destroy himself._

"_I just came from his room and he's asleep now, so I am unable to ask him."_

"_Oh," Leo said disappointedly._

"_You misunderstand me," Kim explained. "He's currently unable to refuse, so it won't hurt if you sneak in to see him." _

_Leo smiled at her deviousness. "He'll probably be mad at me."_

"_Oh well," she said indifferently. "You are his father and you have a right to see him. Now go… and I will get you those pamphlets I mentioned."_

_Leo nodded and turned towards Chris's room at the end of the long white hallway. He paused outside the door, peeked through the window, and saw that Chris was indeed asleep. He quietly slipped inside and sat down across from the bed in one of the visitor's chairs._

_Staring at Chris's slight form dressed in blue and white striped hospital pajamas, Leo couldn't help but feel the pain of guilt radiate across his chest. He felt like such a failure. How had he let things get so out of hand? Why wasn't he there the day of the attack? Why didn't he find his little boy sooner? Why had any of this happened?_

_Leo sat there, grateful to just watch Chris sleep, for a long while. He noticed that Chris's breath seemed to quicken slightly and he began to move in his sleep. He then suddenly began to thrash about and begging some unseen attacker to "stop." _

_Having already witnessed some of these nightmares, Leo knew how disoriented Chris usually was when he awoke and approached with caution. He gently reached out and shook Chris's shoulder to wake him, calling his name repeatedly. _

_Finally Chris shouted, "NO!" and quickly shot up into a seated position and moved against the headboard protectively._

"_Chris, it's okay. It's just me… Dad…" Leo said softly, reaching out to him._

_Chris's tear filled eyes sought out Leo's own searchingly. He then scanned room and seemed to realize that he was in the hospital and not in some dark cave. His face crumpled with a mixture of despair and relief and he brought up his knees to his chest as he began to sob._

"_Shh… it's okay," Leo said lovingly, taking a seat beside the distraught fourteen year old. "It's okay now… everything will be alright…"_

_Chris shook his head forlornly, but didn't respond otherwise. Leo took a chance and reached out to Chris, pulling him in an embrace. Surprisingly, Chris allowed this small gesture. Had this been any other time, Chris may have pushed him away in anger, but for now he accepted the comfort._

"_What was your dream about?" Leo asked hesitantly._

_Chris still didn't respond and continued to cry, a little more quietly now. _

"_What is it? What's wrong?" Leo tried again, clutching Chris closely._

"_You didn't come…" the fourteen year old mumbled against his chest._

_Leo was confused. Did Chris have a dream about him? "What's that?"_

"_You didn't come. I kept calling for you over and over again… but you didn't come… why didn't you come? Why?"_

"_I couldn't hear you…" said Leo, his chest radiating with pain once more. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't hear you. I would have come had I known, I swear it!"_

"_You didn't come…" Chris moaned piteously, as he buried his head in Leo's arms. "I was so scared… still so scared… you still don't come…"_

"_I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Leo pleaded over and over again, his own tears falling onto Chris's mess of brown hair as he held onto him tightly. He was beginning to realize now how mistaken he had been to stay away from his son. "I'm so sorry…."_

* * *

"I guess you could say he's afraid we're going to reject him or leave him behind somehow. So if he doesn't get close then that can't happen," he began.

"You mean he has abandonment issues?" Paige asked.

He nodded. "Because I was an elder, I wasn't always home a lot when the boys were younger," LEO explained. "I did my best to make time for the boys, together and separately, but it wasn't always enough. Chris has held some resentment against me for that and for some reason thinks that I favored Wyatt over him."

"Did you?" Piper asked curiously.

"Of course not," LEO said firmly. "I made sure I spent equal time with both of them, but Chris still believed I spent more time with Wyatt. I guess it was because I had to miss some of his school events and baseball games because of my Elder duties. I tried to make it up to him but he was always disappointed. He was young… and he missed his dad."

"I thought you said we made it work. It sounds like you were absent a lot of the time," Piper said aloud, though she didn't mean it the way it sounded.

"I did my best," LEO said sadly. "It just never seemed like enough… and then I was unable to hear him call when the demon's attack. First because I was up there and Jonas had put me on mute, and then because Chris was in the underworld. I guess in some ways he thought I had forgotten about him… Anyway, after we found him…"

LEO paused as he became choked with emotion and it was all he could do to try and swallow the lump that had formed in his throat.

"You said he wasn't the same," Piper added, encouraging him to go on.

LEO nodded. "Chris wasn't handling things well. I tried to get him some help, but he-" LEO had to stop again and wipe away his tears. "I don't want to say anymore… Chris would be upset with me for revealing too much… Anyway, he resented me for some of the difficult decisions I had to make."

Piper squeezed his hand again, trying to reassure him.

"Later, when things began to deteriorate between us… I agreed to let him go live with his Grandpa Victor."

"Chris lived with Dad?" Piper asked in surprise.

LEO nodded wearily. "I thought I was doing what was best for him, but I think in some ways Chris was trying to test me… and I failed him."

"He thought you would have fought to keep him with you," Phoebe said knowingly.

"I would have too had I known that was what he really wanted. I figured he was still upset with me and needed some space, but I stupidly gave into a teenager's wishes… When I was finally able to reconnect with him again, we were ripped apart."

"That's when Wyatt held you captive?" Paige asked.

"Yes, Chris thought I was dead. After that his big brother became evil, the world went to hell, and our family fell apart…"

"That's so sad," said Phoebe, feeling LEO's pain. "I can't imagine all that he has been through. He's carrying around a lot of baggage, isn't he?"

LEO nodded again. "More than you know…"

* * *

A/N: The family's reaction to Chris's identity wasn't how I originally planned it to be. I like things to be pretty angsty and dramatic, and I think the scene kind of fell short. But at least fits with their personalities and their canon reactions. Piper ended up being much more subdued that I had anticipated, but that is only because she's still trying to understand it all. There will be some bonding moments in the coming chapters.


	11. An Angel Among Demons

A/N: We really haven't seen much of Chris's perspective throughout this story so I'm hoping that you like this chapter. It prominently displays our favorite character and reveals a bit more of what happened to Chris when he was taken. Enjoy!

A/N:** Warning**: The contents of this chapter may be found to be potentially disturbing by some. Charmed was written for a PG-13 audience, but as fan fic writers we can take a few liberties. I believe that for a demon to be truly _evil_, they'd have to commit heinous crimes. Rest assured that most of what will be described here will be implied, rather than going into graphic detail, but it may still be upsetting.

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Chapter 11- An Angel Among Demons

Chris knocked back his second shot of whiskey and wiped his mouth with the side of his hand. He was staring at the back wall of the demon bar he was currently sitting in, trying to look bored. In all actuality he was skillfully listening in on the many conversations that were occurring around him.

After his stupid mistake he made in front of Piper, he had needed a stiff drink to calm his nerves. He still couldn't believe that he had actually slipped and called LEO his "dad." All the months he had been in the past he had never let on who he really was and now his anonymity was gone with one fail swoop. Not that it mattered. Piper didn't react the way he expected to. He would have understood anger or tears at the very least, but the quiet acceptance she had displayed had been unnerving. He didn't know what to do with that, if anything. For now he decided it was best if he pretended that it didn't happen. If she didn't care, then neither would he.

Chris had debated orbing to P3, but then decided that if he was going to drink at least he could be searching for some answers while doing so. So far this little excursion hadn't amounted to much. There had been a few brawls, at least one demon vanquishing another, and a debate over the proper use of shielding spell against witches, but otherwise it had been fairly quiet.

He had frequented this particular bar so many times now that the bartender had taken to pouring his preferred demon alcohol concoction as soon as he had taken a seat at the end of the bar. They rarely spoke, which suited Chris just fine. It was a welcome change to the friendly banter that human bartenders felt compelled to have with their patrons, hoping to make a bigger tip.

At first he had been nervous that the demons might discover that he was actually part witch-part whitelighter. But he soon found that if he dressed in dark clothing, overlooked general hygiene, and stuck to the shadows they left him alone for the most part. The glamour he cast each time to disguise his features certainly helped as well. Had his identity been discovered, Chris had to simply use his powers or orb to safety.

Surprisingly, he felt almost relaxed sitting there. Demons were even more self-absorbed than humans were; more concerned with bragging about their conquests and pursuits for more power than wondering about the quiet patron who visited the raucous bar occasionally. For all they knew he was some lower level demon- nothing that would garner much attention from these power hungry monsters. Thankfully Chris hadn't had to be on the defensive when he was here. He could simply be a fly on the wall, blending into the shadows.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much for him to learn this evening. His usual contacts hadn't been coming around much and he didn't know what to make of that. Had they caught onto his little game? Were the busy with their own pursuits? Or had they simply been vanquished by some foe? He had no way of knowing and he was growing increasingly more frustrated. One little lead was all that he needed- just something to go on to make all of this trouble worth while. But luck was not on his side.

Sitting there quietly, he slowly came to the realization that this was all rather pointless. If he were honest with himself, he would come to the conclusion that he already held the key that would unlock the mystery he was chasing after. He just didn't want to remember any of it. And therein lay the problem. How do you go about vanquishing a demon that you swore you would never allow yourself to think of again?

He had a headache brewing and he rubbed his aching temples hoping to quell some of the pain. He had to get out of here. That much he was sure of. He tried to avoid the underworld at all costs, but lately his visits had become more and more frequent. Now he wasn't so sure that any of it had been really needed.

He threw a few odd looking stone coins onto the bar as payment and received a nod from the bartender. Strolling to the outer corridor, he orbed to P3 once he knew he was out of sight of any demons.

Once in his cozy little office room, he collapsed onto the sofa, his makeshift bed, and put up his feet. Maybe a couple hours of sleep would do him some good. He closed his eyes, but found he couldn't fall asleep. Someone was calling his name.

"_Chris? Chris…"_

It was Piper. He felt himself grow nervous, wondering what she wanted. He wasn't so sure that he knew how to face her now that Piper knew that she was really his mother.

"_Chris, I need you!"_

Fearing that she was in trouble somehow, he took a deep breath and orbed to the manor. He rematerialized in her bedroom and saw Piper sitting on the edge of her bed waiting expectantly.

"What is it?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hi," she said, smiling at him with a bemused expression.

"Hi… now what is it that you needed?" Chris asked, growing a little irritated. He had thought she was in trouble or something.

"I need to talk to you," she said.

"Well, sorry but I don't feel like talking," he replied as he began to orb away. He really did not want to get into an awkward conversation right now.

Chris was surprised when he didn't reappear back at P3 and realized that Piper had grabbed his orbs to prevent him from leaving. Taking him by the arm she pulled him down onto the bed beside her.

"Piper, I don't have time for this," he lied, pulling his arm away.

"So make time. This is important," she said firmly. "_You_ are important."

Chris raised an eyebrow at this. "Now I'm important? Yesterday I was your annoying whitelighter. Just because you found out today that I'm your son, it doesn't change anything," he said, looking away now.

She looked at him in disbelief. "It changes everything!"

"Why?"

"Because I didn't understand before."

"And now you do?" he asked patronizingly.

She nodded. "I had no idea… about any of it. All I knew was that you were a whitelighter from the future trying to warn us that Wyatt would become evil. I didn't want to believe it, and after all things you did…" She paused there, not wanting to sound accusatory. "I just didn't understand then. But now I do. It all makes sense now."

"What makes sense?"

"Why you came back… Why you did some of the things you had to do… all of it."

Chris shrugged, not sure how to reply.

"I meant what I said before. I am sorry for how I treated you," she said softly.

"It's alright," Chris forced himself to say, though inside he still felt very hurt.

"Not it's not. You are my son… I should have known…" she said, shaking her head sadly. She didn't deserve to be forgiven so easily.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. What kind of mom am I?" she asked herself.

"You were the best…" he said softly, echoing the comment had made earlier. And she was. He couldn't have asked for a better childhood. It was only after her death that everything went to hell.

Chris's comment made Piper smile, until she saw that her son's eyes were filling with tears.

She reached and grabbed his hand, taking it into her own. "It'll be okay, Chris. We're going to change the future. I'm not going to die and leave you alone to face those demons this time around."

He nodded, but it was clear something was still troubling him. Even if they did manage to vanquish the demons responsible, Chris would still be left with the memories of what had happened.

Piper wasn't sure what else to say. She knew that he was probably feeling rather uncomfortable with the situation, so she did the only thing she could think of. She reached out and wrapped her arms around him hoping to comfort him. Sadly, Chris couldn't bring himself to return the hug. He just sat their stiffly in her arms, sniffling to hold back the tears that so desperately wanted to fall. She just held on, knowing instinctively that this was what he needed. Although he never did return the embrace, he finally allowed himself to rest his head against her shoulder, letting out a soft sigh.

That sat like this for a short while, as mother and son. But like with all good things, it had to end.

They were suddenly disturbed by Piper's sisters noisily coming up the stairs from the foyer. The pair reluctantly broke apart and listened to the girls' conversation.

"Ugh! He's driving me crazy," said Paige in an annoyed tone.

"Who Chris?" Phoebe asked.

"No, Richard. I just called his cell again and he's still not answering. I've just got this awful feeling that he's still practicing magic," she replied, as they slowly walked past Piper's bedroom door, oblivious to the occupants within.

"Sorry honey. Do you need something to distract you?" Phoebe suggested.

"Absolutely. What do ya got?"

"I think I know a way to save all of us," said Phoebe eagerly.

Piper and Chris looked at one another and then went out to the hallway to meet them.

"How?" asked Piper.

Phoebe and Paige whirled around in surprise, first for being overheard and secondly because Piper and Chris were standing there together. They had thought after his abrupt departure earlier that they wouldn't be seeing him again for awhile.

"How what?" Phoebe asked stupidly.

"How are you going to save us all?" Piper said pointedly.

"Oh, that," her sister replied. "Yeah, well come on up to the attic and I'll tell you."

After checking on Wyatt in the nursery, the foursome went up the stairs to find both Leo's deep in conversation. The pair stood up in unison when they saw the group enter the attic.

"What's going on?" they both asked simultaneously.

"Okay, that was weird," said Paige, shaking her head at the doppelgangers.

"Phoebe thinks she can save us," Piper replied.

"Really? How?" Leo asked. "Did we figure out the demons responsible?"

"No," said Phoebe. "But I think this spell could help us."

She handed over a piece of notebook paper, which the others then read and passed around. No one seemed to know what to say. Paige, who almost always played the Devil's advocate, was the first to voice her concern.

"We tried to ask the Book before to show us the demon responsible for turning Wyatt evil, and that didn't work. What makes you think that this spell will work now?" asked Paige, clearly believing that her sister was wrong.

"The first spell _did_ work," Phoebe argued. "Not the way we intended it, but we still got the answers we needed."

Paige nodded grudgingly. "Yeah, well what makes you think that this spell will work the way you intend? What if the personal gain consequences cause the spell to go all haywire?"

"Well, we've got nothing else to go on," said Phoebe, looking tired and defeated. "Besides, I wrote the spell in such way so that it's open for magical interpretation. If the demon isn't in the Book, I think it might help me have a premonition or something."

"Magical interpretation, huh? It sounds a little sketchy, if you ask me" Paige muttered, crinkling her nose in distaste.

"What do we have to lose?" asked Phoebe in exasperation. "Why not at least try it?"

"She's right," said Piper. "We really have nothing to lose. I think Phoebe should try it."

"I do too," agreed Chris, looking a little apprehensive about it all.

"Really?" asked LEO. "Are you sure you're ready for this."

Chris nodded. "I don't have a choice, do I? We need to stop this evil from ever happening and I'm out of ideas."

As much as he wanted to run away and never look back, he knew that if there was a chance to save his mother and his aunts, he had to take it. Even if it meant remembering what happened to him. Maybe there was a chance that they could prevent it from happening and thereby alter his memories when he returned to the future.

"Is this a power of three spell?" asked Paige.

"No, I thought I'd try it on my own first and see what happens," Phoebe replied.

"Well, go ahead," Piper encouraged her sister.

Phoebe nodded eagerly and then began to recite the spell she had written. "_A troubled past, I wish to see, Reveal the demon that took Chris, Show him to me."_

Instead of flipping the pages of the Book of Shadows open to the appropriate demon, Phoebe felt herself being pulled into what she thought was a premonition. Phoebe felt as though she might collapse from the sheer strength of the spell and reached out to the nearest person. She grabbed onto Chris not knowing the affect it would have on him.

_Phoebe suddenly found herself in a darkened cave. Chris was standing beside her looking quite pale with shock. Her sisters and both Leo's were no where to be found._

"_What happened?" he asked. "Is this a premonition?"_

"_I don't know," she admitted. "This isn't normally how my premonitions work."_

"_What do you mean?" he asked, never having truly understood how Phoebe's visions worked._

"_I'm not usually apart of them like this. I see them as though I were a third party, not as myself. I'm wondering if the spell brought us somewhere instead. "_

"_Then where are we?" Chris asked, trying to peer through the dimly lit cave._

"_It looks like the underworld… maybe we've been taken to the demon's lair?" Phoebe suggested. Chris seemed to grow paler at that. "Do you remember this place?"_

"_No," he said, though he wasn't sure if that was really true._

_They both looked around, trying to determine why the spell would have taken them here. The cave they were standing in was fairly small, perhaps the size of a small bedroom, with only one entrance. Like all caves, it smelled damp and musty, but there was something else that was fouling the air as well; something almost indescribable, yet familiar as well. _

_There was barely any light and what little illumination there was seemed to be coming from down the corridor. If Chris had to guess he would have said that it looked like torch light, the way it bounced off the walls as it neared the entrance of the cave. The dancing amber glow was just enough to make the cave appear to be barren. To their knowledge there was nothing else to indicate why they were here. _

_At least they thought so._

"_Should we follow that tunnel?" Phoebe asked._

_Before Chris could respond, they heard a quiet cough come from the darkened corner of the cave. They whirled around to investigate, but couldn't see a thing. There was some movement as well and they could hear what sounded like chains rattle against the stone wall as though someone had repositioned themselves. Without another light source of some kind it was impossible to see who was in here with them._

"_Hello?" Phoebe called. "Is someone there?"_

_Whoever it was didn't respond and the cave fell back into silence._

"_What should we do?" whispered Phoebe, sounding fearful as she drew closer to Chris. "Do you think it's human?"_

"_I don't know…."_

"_What if it's a demon?"_

"_I don't know…."_

_As his eyes began to adjust more to the darkness, Chris could see more and more of the cave. He now realized that there were several pairs of chains hanging against the craggy wall from where they were fastened to the rock, revealing that they were standing in a dungeon of some sort. The walls were streaked with some unknown substance, which could only be described as dried blood. Bones were scattered amongst the litter of rags on the floor and the odor that fouled the air seemed to grow stronger. It made them both gag. The air smelled of various bodily fluids and of it smelled of death. _

_Chris felt a shiver go down his spine and he wished that Phoebe had never grabbed onto him as she cast that stupid spell. He was beginning to understand why they were brought here and his heart quickened in trepidation._

_Suddenly, the torch light that had dimly lit the corridor that led from this room seemed to grow brighter. They soon realized that someone carrying the torch was moving towards them._

"_What should we do?" she asked fearfully._

_Chris grabbed her arm and tried to orb away but found that he wasn't able to. "I can't orb!" he said quietly, fear beginning to claw at his chest._

_Left with no other option, they held their ground. The demon soon entered the cave and placed his torch in a wrought iron sconce beside the cave entrance. He was accompanied by two others, whose appearance was similar to the first. Oddly they did not seem to notice them. _

_Before either one could move out of the way- not that there was much room to move to- the tallest one had walked straight through Phoebe carrying a tray of some sort._

_She gasped in surprise and turned towards Chris. "Is he a ghost?"_

"_I don't think so…"_

_They turned around to see what was happening and saw the demon approach whoever was in the corner of the cave. Now that they could see properly they could make out a small teenager huddled in the corner of the cave. He was rocking back and forth, his arms encircling his knees, which he had brought up to this his chest as the demon drew near. He put his head down onto his knees and tried to scoot away, but his movement was restricted. His wrists were bound by heavy iron cuffs connected to long chains that extended from the wall above his head. He was half naked and soiled from lying on the dirt floor, but they were able to see that his torso was littered with various scrapes and bruises. _

_They watched as the demon approached the boy and knelt down in front of him. They could see that the humanlike creature was tall, with a broad build, and was fairly muscular. He wore dark brown pants and a coarse vest woven from the fur of some type of animal. Like the others, his head was completely bald, but his was adorned with a strange sort of tattoo that looked almost Gaelic in origin. It seemed to signify him as their leader. Phoebe knew that this clue was vital and she tried to memorize the intricate design as best as she could. She was sure that it would indicate which clan they needed to vanquish._

"_How are you, my pet?" the demon asked, as he then reached out stroked the boy's mop of brunet hair. "I brought you something to eat."_

"_Don't touch him!" Phoebe suddenly shouted, instinctively knowing how completely wrong this situation was. She tried to stop the demon, but found that her hand went completely through him. Powerless to stop him, Phoebe looked to Chris and muttered, "We must be in some sort of memory. I don't think we're really here."_

_Chris didn't respond and could only stare unblinkingly at the scene before him. The teenager had whimpered and tried to move away from demon's touch, but once again the chains restricted him from moving very far. _

_The demon then attempted to hand feed the boy some sort of piece of meat, but he couldn't tempt him to try it in any way. In frustration the demon then grabbed his face and tried to force the food into his mouth, but the boy spit it out and turned his face back down towards his knees. _

"_I told you, my liege," said one of the demons still standing in the cave entryway. "He continues to defy us despite our attempts to persuade him otherwise."_

_This seemed to anger the demon. He threw the tray across the cave scattering the food. It banged against the rocky wall and skittered away. "Why won't you eat? It's been three days! I want you strong."_

"_He intends to starve himself to death, Zorac," said the other. "He knows that it is the only escape."_

"_I've already figured that out!" Zorac yelled to his minions. "Go and leave us be. And tell the others I'm not to be disturbed."_

_The pair in the entryway bowed to their leader and then quietly left. Zorac turned back to the young man, studying him carefully._

"_Why does it matter whether or not I eat?" the boy asked miserably, finally looking up from his knees. His green eyes peered at the demon fearfully through the strands of his dark brown hair, seeking to understand why he was being tortured so._

_Phoebe gasped as she realized that she knew that battered face. Although his eyes were red rimmed and tear tracks stained his bruised face, she'd recognize him anywhere. "Oh my god! Chris… is that you?" she asked fearfully._

_Chris couldn't speak. He could only stand there in shock while his heart raced a mile a minute. He had tried so hard to forget that any of this had ever happened and now here he was confronting it head on._

_The demon laughed at the boy's question. "Because I need you strong so that you will continue to fight me, of course. It's so much more fun that way, and I plan on keeping you around for quite a while," he said, with a sadistic smile on his face. "If you won't eat, then I guess it's time to play again."_

_Fresh tears sprang to the younger Chris's eyes, and he whimpered fearfully. "No, no, no, no… please no…"_

_Phoebe burst into tears herself as she realized what the demon's implications were. "Leave him alone! Don't you touch him, you bastard!" she screamed. She tried to punch, kick, and claw at the demon but only found air._

_The sick and twisted scene before her continued to play out despite her pleas for it to stop. Beside her, Chris had squeezed his eyes shut and was mumbling, "No, no, no… this isn't happening… this isn't happening!"_

_Realizing just how traumatic this must be for him, she wrapped her arms around him as if she could shield him from the pain. She tried to back out of the cave, dragging Chris along with her, but found that they were rooted to the memory and helpless to stop it._

_She had avoided looking at the insidious crime taking place beside them, but that couldn't stop the onslaught of sounds that accompanied it. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but her imagination was supplying most of the details as she listened to the struggle. _

_The younger Chris has stopped begging the demon to stop and was now screaming helplessly for his father. But it was clear that his pleas for help were not being answered. _

_Phoebe sobbed pitifully into Chris's chest willing this memory to end, when suddenly the cave was enveloped in an odd rushing sound. Everything seemed to bend inwards as though all the matter and energy in this small space were being pulled by some strange force. Before they could even comprehend what was happening, an explosion of white light erupted, crashing against the cave walls erratically and then shooting down the long corridor._

_Blinded by the light at first, Phoebe could hear a primal scream rip from the young Chris's lips as the explosion took place. When she could see again, she noticed that Zorac had been thrown away from Chris. The amazing display of power had stopped as suddenly as it had began, leaving everything smoldering in its wake. Miraculously, the iron cuffs had popped open during the surge of energy and Chris knelt there, his chest heaving in disbelief. Apparently he had not been aware he possessed such a power. He was shaking uncontrollably and tears were streaming down his face._

_Phoebe saw that although the demon had been badly burned and stunned, he had not been killed. He was already beginning to come to. She glanced anxiously to the younger Chris, hoping that he'd run while he had the chance. Thankfully, the teenage Chris rose to his feet, albeit painfully, and hobbled out of the cave as fast as injuries would allow him, stifling the sobs that threatened to escape his grimacing face. _

_Phoebe then turned her attention to the twenty two year old Chris that she still held in her arms. Looking up at him, she took his face in her hands and gently said, "It's over now. I'm so sorry you had to go through that again."_

_He finally opened his eyes and looked down at her. Phoebe could see the depth of pain that lurked behind his shining green orbs._

"_It's over now… I know the demon that took you. We'll stop this from ever happening," she whispered, hoping that it would relieve some of his pain. In her heart she knew that wasn't possible. He'd always be left with these horrid memories._

They were abruptly pulled back from the memory, and both of them awoke to find themselves lying on the dusty floor of the attic. They both sat up to find the others hovering around them worriedly.

"What happened?" asked Piper. "We were so worried when both of you just collapsed."

Neither Phoebe nor Chris seemed able to respond. Sensing the pain that Chris was in, Phoebe reached over and gathered him in her arms. Unable to contain the flood of tears that were building inside of him, Chris collapsed against her and began to sob.

Phoebe held him closely and quietly whispered reassurances, aware that the others had been stunned into silence at Chris's outburst of emotion. He was normally so stoic that it was almost unreal to see him so distraught.

Eventually LEO and Piper both collapsed to their knees beside them, desperate to understand. They both began to tear up when they saw how upset both Chris and Phoebe were. Paige and Leo held back, not wanting to intrude.

"What is it?" Piper asked tearfully.

Phoebe sniffled and finally looked to her big sister. "I know… I know the demons that took Chris and killed us."

"You saw where they had taken Chris?" LEO asked knowingly.

"Yes."

LEO looked as though his heart was breaking and he reached over and pulled Chris from Phoebe's arms and into his own.

"You're sure?" Piper asked, watching LEO and Chris carefully.

Phoebe nodded. "I saw a distinctive tattoo on their leader, Zorac…I think we can find them."

Piper helped her sister up. "Tell me what happened?"

Before Phoebe could reply, Chris stood up quickly from his position on the floor, his eyes wild with fury. "No! I don't want them to know! No one was supposed to know!" he yelled.

LEO stood up and put a hand on his son's shoulder, hoping to comfort him. "It's okay, Chris. She won't say anything that you don't want her to. Right, Phoebe?"

She nodded tearfully, wincing slightly as though she were in pain.

"I.. I- I gotta go… I c-can't stay here," Chris stuttered, obviously still reeling from the memory they saw.

"It's okay, Chris," Piper tried to reassure him, reaching out to pull him into her arms. "You don't have to leave-"

She was surprised when he maneuvered out of his grasp. "I can't stay," he muttered, wiping furiously at his traitorous tears.

"I'm coming with you," said LEO, grabbing his son's arm.

And suddenly the pair was gone, orbing away in a shower of brilliant blue and white lights.

"What happened?" Piper asked Phoebe, desperate to know why her son was running away from her after they had reconnected earlier. "Tell me!"

Phoebe looked torn between abiding by Chris's wishes and wanting to share with her sister the awful pain she had witnessed. She never was good at keeping secrets and she felt herself being tugged towards her sister's demand.

Leo stepped forward and thankfully saved Phoebe from revealing anything. "Chris doesn't want you to know, honey…"

"But why? I'm his mother," Piper replied, crying now. "I need to know what was so awful that my son didn't feel like he could stay."

"He's hurting…" said Leo. "Whatever happened to him, he wants to protect you from knowing about it."

"But why? What happened?"

"I don't know…" said Leo sadly.

Suddenly, there was a cry on the monitor. Wyatt had woken up from his nap and was crying out for his mommy and daddy. Taking Piper's hand into his own, the despondent pair went down stairs to check on their son- knowing that even if they couldn't help one son, they still had an obligation to another.

Phoebe and Paige were left alone in the attic, the sudden silence stretching before them only added to the obvious tension.

"Are you alright?" Paige finally asked.

Phoebe shook her head, wiping away the tears that were still falling down her face. She stilled her movements and clutched her head when she realized that any such movement would only cause her an immense amount of pain. She had a migraine coming on. "No, I'm not…" she said finally.

"What happened?" Paige whispered, hoping that her sister would share what she learned.

"I can't… I just can't-" Phoebe said, pushing past her and rushing to the toilet downstairs.

Her head was killing her now, but she was determined to make it to the bathroom before she got sick all over the floor. She barely made it.

After she had lost the contents of her stomach, Phoebe sat back against the coolness of the tub and closed her eyes, willing the pain in her to stop. Paige followed her inside, turning on the light to see properly.

"Don't!" Phoebe cried, covering her eyes.

"Don't what?"

"The light."

"Oh," said Paige, flipping the switch off. "Migraine?"

"Mm-hmm."

Paige ran a wash cloth under cold water and placed it on her middle sister's forehead head before sitting down beside her. "Can I get you anything? Tylenol? Potion? Xanax?"

Phoebe sighed and rubbed her temples. "Won't help… I just need to sleep this off…"

The thought of sleep made her whimper and she began to cry once more.

"What is it honey?"

"I'm afraid to go to sleep… I don't want to see what happened to Chris again. I can't get it out of my mind!" she said desperately.

"That bad, huh?" Paige asked softly.

Phoebe nodded, but then stilled her head when she realized once again that it was stupid to move like that with a migraine.

"C'mon. Let's get you to bed. I'll stay with you and wake you up if it seems like your having a nightmare," Paige said, helping her sister to stand up.

"Really?"

"Sure. What are sisters for?"

"But I need to draw the picture of the tattoo," Phoebe argued, as she was led to her bedroom. Her hands were pressed tightly over her eyes to prevent any light from penetrating them.

"Do you still remember what it looks like?" Paige asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, then it won't matter if you draw it now or later. Besides, you can't even open your eyes right now."

"Fine…" Phoebe relented as she crawled into bed and under the covers.

Paige lay down beside her, not sure if she would be able to fall asleep at this early hour. She reached out and massaged the back of Phoebe's head. Her sister sighed in appreciation and soon fell asleep, leaving Paige alone with her thoughts. The wheels were turning in her head, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. If what happened to Chris was as bad as Phoebe said it was and if she were correct about her assumption that Chris had been cutter, she could only imagine the awful things that been done to her poor nephew.

And so the Halliwell family was separated this evening, divided in pairs to handle their pain and misery in the only ways they could.

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A/N: I haven't gotten many reviews for the last few chapters so I'm a little worried that the dark nature of this story is turning people off. If it's not your thing, that's fine, but if you are enjoying it or have something you'd like to see let me know your thoughts in a review. Thanks!


	12. Falling From Grace

**Chapter 12- Falling From Grace**

Surprisingly, LEO didn't say a single word as he watched Chris systematically destroy the club that had at times been their family's only source of income. He realized that Chris needed this right not. Anger and frustration rolled off his son in waves and he used his powers to take his pent up emotions out on every chair, table, and glass in the place, screaming his rage all the while.

When he finally burnt himself out, Chris cautiously looked around and surveyed the damage. He knew that Piper was going to kill him if he didn't fix this. Sighing tiredly, he cast the "object of objection" spell and everything was put right again.

"Feel better now?" LEO had asked quietly.

Chris sank into one of the stools at the bar, feeling completely spent. "Not really," he said, hanging his head in his hands dejectedly.

LEO sat down beside his son unsure of what to say. There was still so much history between them that he was afraid that Chris would never open up to him. When he finally did speak his voice it was thick with emotion. "I'm sorry you had to go through that again. If I had known… if I had could have prevented you from seeing that memory… I-"

"It's alright," said Chris, cutting him off. "I knew that something like that might happen."

"You did? Why did you allow Phoebe to cast that spell then?" his father asked in surprise.

Chris shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair. "Like I said earlier; I didn't have much of a choice. There wasn't any other way to find the demons that killed the sisters. If it means we can save them and prevent Wyatt from turning evil… well, then it was worth it."

LEO smiled at his son and clasped his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I'm so proud of you… of the sacrifices you have made… you are so much stronger than I am."

Chris rolled his eyes. "You make me sound like a martyr."

"You are!"

"I don't know about that…"

"Only a martyr would form the resistance against his own brother to save lives and only a martyr would risk coming to the past to change the future, not knowing if he would survive or even come back. And to face family that you lost so long ago… well, it's quite remarkable."

"Still… but a martyr? If you knew half of things I've had to do, you wouldn't think so positively of me…I've done some awful things in order to survive," Chris said, shaking his head.

"I know it's been hard. But you've overcome so much and you are still good person. A father couldn't ask for more than that," he continued. "Wyatt didn't go through half of what you did and it sent him down a dark path. You followed your heart and stayed true to the light. What you've accomplished is amazing."

Chris finally relented and muttered a small, "Thanks."

Against his better wishes, LEO agreed to share a few drinks with his son, if it meant that he would continue to talk to him. He desperately wanted to reconnect with Chris, and if few drinks lowered his inhibitions enough to share some of his pain, then so be it.

He suppressed an urge to knock each drink out of Chris's hand, remembering the suicide attempt with alcohol and pills, and focused on the fact that his son was stronger now and an adult. Besides, he wasn't sure how much Chris remembered of the time between when he was found in the underworld and when he went to live with Victor. There were days at a time where Chris had been heavily sedated or on anti-anxiety and depression medication to help cope with his massive mood swings.

Surprisingly, Chris ended up sharing quite a bit with his father over their drinks. They spent hours catching up with one another, talking about family, laughing at memories of when the boys were kids, and reminiscing over the loss of Piper and the rest of their family. Eventually the conversation led to Chris's capture and he finally revealed, for the first time, the horrible details of what happened to him.

When the tears finally came, LEO just held onto his son and wept along with him. By now they were both quite inebriated and it was very late. Knowing that Chris was dead on his feet, he led him to his bed in the back office and lay him down. Within a few short minutes Chris had been fast asleep. LEO had promised to stay with him and wake him from any nightmares, should he be plagued with them that evening. Surprisingly the nightmares were held at bay. Unburdening his soul had down wonders to his subconscious.

* * *

Chris awoke the next morning to find himself lying on the couch in the back office of P3. He had a killer headache and he felt generally awful. He couldn't understand how he came to be in his awful state when it all came rushing back to him suddenly.

He remembered that he had slipped and inadvertently told Piper his most precious secret… that he was her son. And he had also been pulled into his memories of the time he had been taken to the underworld. It had been bad enough seeing it all again after he had worked so hard to forget all of it, but it had been even worse because Phoebe had been witness of it.

Chris lay his head back against the pillow and let out a deep sigh. It was the aftermath he had created after all that experience that had given him this god awful hangover. Unable to cope with rawness of the pain he had been feeling, he had orbed away from the manor and gone to P3. Much to his dismay his father had followed him by grabbing onto his orbs.

Peeking his eyes open now, Chris could see that his father had fallen asleep in the chair. His head was tilted backwards at a painful angle and his mouth was hanging wide open. Chris swung his legs onto the floor and pushed himself up carefully. The sofa squeaked loudly, alerting LEO that he was awake.

The older man startled at the sudden sound and bolted upright. Seeing that Chris was awake he said, "G'morning."

"Not so good," Chris moaned, holding his head now.

"I told you this would happen," LEO commented.

"Yeah, well…" Chris couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Feel like getting some breakfast with your old man?" LEO asked. "We could go to JJ's."

Chris thought it over for a moment and nodded. A little bit of normalcy was just what he needed. His stomach didn't feel all that queasy and it had been a long while since he had gone to a diner to eat. His head hurt quite a bit, but that was nothing he couldn't deal with. Besides, he really could use a cup of coffee right now.

"What are we going to do for money?" he asked.

"We'll just borrow from the P3 cash register. Piper won't mind."

The pair took their time showering and making themselves more presentable. LEO was thin enough to borrow some of the clothes Chris had stashed at the club. When both were ready and feeling a little more sober, Chris orbed them to their favorite dive.

The each ordered a large breakfast and continued to reminisce about old times. When their plates were finally empty and their coffee had grown cold, LEO decided that it was time to make an appearance at the manor.

"I don't know…" Chris faltered, when his father suggested they should see what the others were up to. "I don't feel like talking about what happened with them just yet."

"Don't worry. I think they know enough to leave you be for now…" he said as he lay a few bills on the table to cover their breakfast and tip.

"But what about Mom?" Chris asked.

LEO raised an eyebrow at that. It was the first time he had ever heard Chris refer to Piper as his mother. He smiled. "I deal with her if necessary."

"Alright, I guess we should find out if they made any headway on that demon," Chris agreed.

After walking a few meters behind the diner, Leo and Chris orbed to the attic hoping to find some answers. When they arrived they found Phoebe and Paige sitting on the couch with Wyatt beside them in the play pen.

They both looked up at the two men, looking apprehensive. The emotional display that had been witnessed last night when Chris and Phoebe awoke from the memory had been quite dramatic. Nobody said anything for a few moments and the silence was almost deafening. Unable to handle the tension, Paige said, "Hi. What's up?"

"We came to see if you found out anything about the demon," said LEO, noticing the book that lay across Paige's lap. "Is that him?"

Paige nodded. "We couldn't find Zorac in the Book of Shadows so Leo went to magic school and found this one for us. Apparently they have an extensive library just full of books about magical creatures."

"Seems like Leo could have told us about this library before," muttered Phoebe, as she scratched out whatever she was writing on her notepad. "We've came up against enough demons that weren't in the Book."

"So what does it say?" Chris asked, staring at the illustrations of Zorac with wide eyes. It showed two profiles, one from the front and one from the back, highlighting the intricate tattoo that adorned the bald head.

Phoebe saw the way Chris was staring at the picture and gave him a sad smile. She knew better than anyone what Chris had gone through in the three days he had been taken after the Charmed Ones' deaths.

"Not much," answered Paige. "Apparently in our time he's only a lower level demon and is part of a small clan. They must gain more power in the future or something. Or maybe the clan grows really large and that's how they came to be so powerful in the future. You know, like strength in numbers."

"Is there a spell or potion?" Chris asked.

"No, we're working on that. But at least we know now where to find them," she said pointing to the description of the demon's lair. "I'm going to get started on the potion."

Paige walked across the room and began to gather up the pot and some herbs from the cupboards and placed them on the table.

"Need some help?" Chris asked.

Paige raised her eyebrows. "With the potion?"

"Sure why not."

She shrugged as she tossed an herb into the pot. "I've just never seen you make a potion before, that's all."

Chris rolled his eyes. "I am part witch you know. And besides, I'm rather good at brewing. I learned from the best."

Paige looked surprised, realizing that Chris was indicating her. "You mean me?"

"Yup." Chris joined her and picked up the recipe she was working from.

Paige nodded in appreciation and said, "Well, what do you know…" she said to herself.

"Is this a variation of the potion you made to vanquish the Source?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

He smiled. "I learned from the best," he repeated, stirring the pot as he added the fish scales. "This is going to pack quite a punch."

"That's the plan. We figured that we might as well go in with our most powerful weapons in hand rather than underestimate them."

"But isn't this overkill? You said that they're only lower level demons right now."

"Yeah, well it's best to be prepared."

LEO smiled at the exchange, glad to see Chris opening up a bit to his aunt. He turned away from the pair and approached Phoebe. She was still seated at the couch working with a pen and a pad of notebook paper in hand on the spell.

"Where's Piper?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Where's Piper?"

"Downstairs, I think. With you. I mean Leo… well, you know what I mean," she sent absently.

He nodded and went in search of his wife, knowing instinctively that she was probably not handling this situation well. Wyatt gurgled at him happily as he past and he ruffled his son's head before heading out of the attic.

LEO soon found Piper and Leo sitting quietly in conservatory holding hands. There were tears streaming down her face and he felt his heart clench in sympathy. He knew how much she was hurting and she didn't even know the full extent of everything that happened in the future. It was probably better that she didn't.

He didn't spend a lot of time in this room in the future since it was where Piper took her last breath, but he didn't have a lot of choice. He sat down across from them and took a deep breath.

"How are you holding up?"

"Oh just fine," Piper commented darkly, wiping at the corners of her eyes with a crumpled tissue that she held tightly in her hand. "Wyatt turns evil and locks his daddy up for several years, my sisters and I are horribly killed all on the same day, our family falls apart, the world goes to hell, and my other son- who I just find out is _Chris_- is emotionally scarred by whatever happens to him when he is taken. So yeah… we're just fine!"

LEO wasn't taken aback by Piper's biting words. He knew her enough to know that this outburst was her way of thinking things through.

"Sorry…" he said softly. "I don't know what to say…"

Leo pulled Piper into an embrace and turned to look at him. "You don't have to say anything… this isn't your fault."

"Sometimes I think it is," LEO admitted. "I spent the better part of my captivity replaying everything that happened in my head, wondering where it went wrong."

"Was it gradual?" Piper suddenly asked.

LEO was perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"Wyatt. Did he turn evil over night or was it gradual?" she asked.

He contemplated this, not knowing what to say. "It's hard to explain…"

"Please try," she begged. "There are so many things you and Chris aren't telling me. I need to at least know why my death and what happened to his brother affected Wyatt so much. Didn't we raise him to know right from wrong? Did a switch just flip inside of him or did the change happen slowly? Please… I need to know."

LEO sighed as he remembered when he knew that his son had fallen from grace.

_* * *_

_Leo had just come home from checking on Chris in the hospital again and nearly ran into Wyatt coming out of his room. They had moved back to the manor after Chris had been admitted a few months ago. _

_Leo had been angry with Wyatt earlier when he hadn't wanted to come to the hospital with him, but upon seeing Chris, Leo was beginning to understand why. Chris's condition hadn't changed much from his last visit, or from the last few months for that matter. He was beginning to wonder if he'd ever have his little boy back again._

"_See you later," Wyatt mumbled, brushing past his father._

"_Where are you going?" Leo demanded, noticing Wyatt's dark attire. For whatever reason his son's clothing choices recently had consisted mostly of black shirts and dark jeans._

_Wyatt paused at the top of the stairs. "Why?"_

"_Because I'm worried about you," Leo called after his eldest son. "You're never home anymore and you've almost completely given up on school."  
_

"_What's the point in even going to school?" Wyatt asked, turning around to face him. "It's not like any of that really matters."_

"_Of course it matters," he said firmly. "If you don't want to focus on high school then at least finish out magic school."  
_

_Wyatt snorted disdainfully and shook his head. "Like they can teach me anything I don't already know," he scoffed. "I'm more powerful than all of those fuddy duddies combined!"_

_Leo frowned deeply at this. "Wyatt, they can teach __you __what you need to know. You think you're prepared for anything that might come your way, but you__'re__ not! You never know when you might be attacked-" _

"_Like Mom was?" Wyatt asked coldly. "Like Chris?"_

_Leo closed his eyes in frustration, "Don't Wyatt… I'm just worried about you."_

"_Well don't be. I'm going to make it so that you never have to worry again," said Wyatt stalking down the stairs and away from his father. _

_Leo quickly followed after him. "What do you mean? Where are you going?"_

_Wyatt ignored him and continued his path down the stairs and into the living room. He grabbed his leather jacket from where he had tossed it on the couch earlier and quickly put it on._

"_I know you want revenge, Wyatt. So do I? But at the end of the day it won't bring her back," Leo said sadly._

"_I've already had my revenge," Wyatt said nonchalantly. He then checked to see that his athame was still secured to his side._

"_What?" asked Leo. He was surprised to hear this. Wyatt would have certainly told him that he had vanquished the demons that had killed the Charmed Ones and had taken Chris, wouldn't he?_

"_You heard me," he said._

"_When?"_

"_Does it matter?"_

"_Then where are you going?" Leo demanded once more._

"_To make sure we never have to be afraid again," Wyatt said simply._

_Leo was beginning to understand now why Wyatt wasn't home much anymore. Apparently his son had taken it upon himself to go on a vanquishing spree to ensure their safety. "Don't do this Wyatt… it's not going to make Chris better any faster."_

_Wyatt shrugged. "Maybe it will... he wouldn't have to be afraid." _

"_Even if that were true, you know that he'd still be left with the memories of what happened," Leo said sadly. Only Chris could save himself now. "What he needs is his big brother to visit more often."_

"_I tried that. Didn't do much good."_

"_So keep trying. We can't give up hope that Chris will eventually heal his emotional wounds."_

_Wyatt shook his head and backed away. "I still have to do this."_

"_Why?"_

"_You already know…" Wyatt replied, his eyes flashing. _

"_Don't do this Wyatt! You're only 17! Do you really realize what you are becoming?"_

"_I want to protect my family! There's nothing wrong with that!" Wyatt shouted._

"_At the expense of everything else?" Leo argued. "You are killing now for the sake of killing! What would your mother think?"_

"_I wouldn't know, now would I? She's dead!" his son said coldly._

"_Don't do this Wyatt! I want you to stay home tonight-" Leo began._

"_You can't tell me what to do," Wyatt countered._

"_Yes I can. I am your father. And I want-"_

"_It's not about what you want anymore. Besides I am an adult. You can't control me."_

"_You're only 17!" Leo argued once more. "You won't be an adult until you are 18 and move out of this house."_

"_Well then maybe I will just move out now!"_

"_Why are you doing this?" Leo pleaded with his son, his eyes filling with tears. He wasn't sure how much more he could take._

"_I told you! I want a world where my little brother doesn't have to fear anything! I will do everything in my power to create that world."_

"_To what end?" he asked. "At the rate you are going you'll end up exposing magic!"_

"_So what if I did? Why should I have to hide who I am? Why should I deny my magical heritage because the Elders think it unwise to let the mortal world know that a king walks among the?" Wyatt asked._

"_A king? Is that who you think you are now?"_

"_Why not? I am King Arthur's heir and I wield Excalibur. Why should I deny my right to my throne?"_

_Leo shook his head sadly. "What's happened to you?"_

"_I've only come to realize my true destiny. It would be wise if you did not stand in my way," Wyatt warned. He then orbed out before Leo could say another word._

_Leo sank into the couch and covered his face with his hands. He had been so busy trying to make sure that Chris got the care that he needed, that he had neglected Wyatt in some ways. It was only now that he was beginning to see how much Wyatt enjoyed the power he was wielding, and that he was beginning to crave more. His son was headed down a dark path and he wasn't sure he would be able to pull him back._

_* * *_

"It happened slowly," said LEO. "So slowly I didn't even see what was happening even though it as right in front of me. At first it seemed as though he was hell bent on revenge, but over time it seem to become more than that. He gave upon school, he was almost never home, and he stopped visiting Chris altogether."

"Visiting Chris?" Piper asked in confusion. "Where was he?"

"It doesn't matter," LEO tried to say, realizing his own mistake.

"Of course it matters. Where was Chris? Why wasn't he home?" she asked.

"Don't you remember… Chris was staying with Victor," said Leo, gripping his wife's hands. "He probably couldn't stand to live in the manor after seeing your death here. Right?"

Leo looked to his future counterpart for confirmation. LEO nodded weakly; knowingly omitting the fact that Chris had been hospitalized for several months before he ever went to live with his grandfather.

"Wyatt began hunting demons regularly. He felt so powerful after each kill that the lines between good and evil began to blend. I imagine that all it took was for one demon to beg for mercy and ask to join Wyatt instead of being killed to spark the idea that he could rule over them. I think he truly believed that what he was doing would keep Chris safe. The only way Wyatt felt he could do that was to have ultimate power. It was like a kick in the face when Chris refused to join Wyatt after all his brother had mistakenly done for him."

"Why didn't you stop him?" Piper asked in an accusing tone. "Why didn't you make our son listen to reason?"

"I tried, Piper. Believe me, I tried," he pleaded. "At first I think I might have ignored some of Wyatt's behavior because I was grieving so badly over losing you… Chris wasn't doing so well either and it was all I could do to hold us all together… and when I finally began to realize what was happening, it was too late. Wyatt was too far gone."

"I just don't understand…" Piper cried, wiping away her tears once more. "Wyatt should have known better…"

"I thought so too. I tried to tell him so, but he was so much more powerful than we expected. It corrupted him."

Piper shook her head sadly. "I just don't want to believe that any of this will happen."

"I know. I'm so sorry…" LEO apologized.

"At least we can stop it from every happening," Leo added, hoping to lighten the mood. "If we succeed than it will be like nothing ever happened at all."

LEO nodded, although he knew that it wasn't true. The consequences of time travel were too difficult to contemplate. In all likelihood, he and Chris would return to the future and still have the memories of the original timeline even though they would gain new memories of a hopefully happy future as well. Though another possibility would be that they would simply fuse with their future counterparts in the changed timeline and not really remember it all, thinking that it were but a dream.

The threesome was interrupted by Phoebe, Paige, Wyatt, and Chris walking into conservatory determinedly. Piper looked up at her sisters and said, "Is everything ready?"

They both nodded and Paige handed over a bundle of potions and the spell that had been written. Phoebe, who had been holding Wyatt, handed the little boy over to his daddy.

"Alright, let's go," said Piper, standing beside her sisters now and taking their hands.

"I'm coming too," said both Leo's at once.

Piper shook her head. "You don't have any powers," she said pointing to LEO, and then to her husband. "And you need to stay with Wyatt. We'll handle this."

They nodded reluctantly.

Phoebe looked to Chris and saw the apprehension written all over his face. "Are you alright?" she asked.

He nodded though he looked still unsure. "I just can't believe that this might all be over soon."

"Don't worry, we'll stop the demons and save you and our family," she said reassuringly.

"And I'm coming with you to make sure you do," he said, standing beside them now.

"Are you sure?" LEO asked.

Chris nodded determinedly and took his mother's hand.

"Alright. Let's do this!" said Paige, before orbing them all away.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for all of the positive reviews from the last chapter. Some questions came up about Chris's explosive power and the demons' reasons for capturing him. More will be explained in the next chapter.


	13. Rescuing Lost Souls

**Chapter 13- Rescuing Lost Souls**

When they arrived in the underworld, Chris and the Charmed Ones ended up in a long corridor attached to a large cavern. They pressed themselves against the cave walls as Paige carefully peered around the corridor and into the demon's lair.

"Are we in the right place?" Phoebe whispered to her sister.

Paige nodded. Stepping back to join them she whispered, "Zorac is here, along with the rest of the clan."

"How many?" Piper asked.

Paige shrugged. "About twenty or so."

"Twenty?" Piper whispered. "Just great."

"Don't worry about it. These guys are only lower level, remember?"

"Paige, these demons kill us in the future," Piper reminded her.

"But we were all alone then. We got the power of three now, and we're packing some serious fire power," Paige replied, holding up the bag of potions and sounding more confident then she looked.

"Are you going to be alright?" Phoebe asked Chris.

He nodded, but plastered himself a bit closer to the cave wall, his eyes filled with trepidation. "Let's just get this over with."

Phoebe nodded and began to grab a handful of potions and stowed them in her pockets. "Do we just go in fighting?"

"I don't think there's another way. C'mon," said Piper. She stepped towards the cave entrance and raised her hands. She blew up the nearest demon and began moving forward, blowing up anything that moved in their direction.

The bald headed leader spun around in surprise. "It's the Charmed Ones," Zorac yelled. "Attack!"

Phoebe and Paige followed their older sister, throwing potions with deadly accuracy. Amazingly they were able to take out a few demons at a time with each vial of potion. Like Chris had said earlier, they packed quite a punch.

"Should we try the spell?" asked Paige, throwing another potion.

Piper shook her head. "Not yet. We wouldn't be able to read a word of it without being overtaken. Get rid of as many as you can first!" she shouted.

All three sisters dodged the fire balls and energy balls that were being thrown at them and began to split up. As they had expected, this clan had a variety of demons with various fighting styles.

Phoebe wanted to get to Zorac, but found there were too many demons in her way. She engaged in some hand to hand combat with a few demons, using her fighting skills to vanquish several demons by kicking them into the cave walls. She quickly became overwhelmed, however, when she was put into a headlock. She fought against her attacker, but found that this brute was too strong for her. She was going to call her sisters for help when she remembered the athame she was carrying. She yanked it from her belt and stabbed the demon in the chest. He howled in pain before he erupted in flames. Phoebe backed away quickly, feeling the searing heat against her skin.

Paige was using a combination of potions and her teleorbing against the demons she was attacking. At one point a demon began to spit streams of some sort of yellowy liquid at her. Phoebe happened to glance over and saw what was happening. She could only assume that it was acidic in nature and prayed that her sister wouldn't be caught in the stream. When Paige had enough of dodging the awful substance she yelled, "Icky stuff!" and orbed it straight back at the demon. He melted into a pile of goo.

Piper was holding her own, blowing up the demons that she could and freezing a few others. Phoebe began to follow behind her and used the athame on any demon that was frozen. They too erupted in flames, howling in misery.

Chris had hung back and stayed near the shadows by the cave entrance. He didn't seem too keen on fighting and at first Phoebe thought he hadn't been helping at all. But then she noticed that a fireball that had been heading her way had been diverted to another part of the cave where it crashed against the wall harmlessly. Apparently he had been giving them some cover so that they could vanquish demons without coming into harms way. She smiled at him appreciatively.

By now they had exhausted their potions and the Charmed Ones were beginning to tire. There were only a handful of demons left, including the leader Zorac, who had been watching the display with interest. He seemed to stand back and allow his minions to fight rather than get his hands dirty.

Phoebe approached Zorac eager on vanquishing him herself after witnessing what he had done to her poor nephew in the future, but she wasn't sure if she could accomplish this on her own. She didn't have active powers like her sisters and she didn't think she could get close enough to use the athame, even though this was the closest she had been able to get to him since the fighting had begun.

"We're almost done!" Phoebe shouted to the others. "Let's read the spell!"

"You're right," said Piper, and all three sisters gathered together.

"_Demons who dwell in this lair, we draw upon the power of witches everywhere-" _they began to chant, reading from a piece of paper Phoebe was holding.

"I don't think so," said Zorac, sending a fireball their way.

All three girls hit the floor to avoid the fireball, but thankfully Chris diverted it at the last second. Phoebe hadn't noticed before but he had finally joined them, stepping away from the shadows the cave entrance had provided. He stood there quietly; his body was tense and fear was still written on his face.

The Charmed Ones stood back up and tried to resume the spell once more. _"Demons who dwell in this lair, we draw upon the power of witches everywhere-"_

Before they could complete it, Zorac clapped his hands together twice. He then crossed his arms over his chest looking quite smug. Soon demons began to pour out of the recesses in the cavern, forming a circle around Chris and the girls. They were once again outnumbered.

"Twenty or so? Paige, I think you underestimated," said Piper, looking alarmed.

Paige glanced at her sister in disbelief. "Yeah, well I didn't know that there was some hiding in all those little caves."

"We're out of potions, what do we do?" Phoebe asked.

Before any of her sisters could reply, Zorac stepped forward to address them. "Why have you come here?" he asked.

"To vanquish you, duh?" said Paige.

"But why?" he asked curiously. "We have not caused you any grief. I didn't think the Charmed Ones were in the habit of attacking unless they were threatened in some way."

"It's personal," Piper responded, looking quite fierce. "And I will not stop until every last of you is destroyed."

Zorac shrugged indifferently, not looking overly concerned seeing how he had them completely outnumbered. "Attack!" he commanded the others.

The clan began closing in, looking quite menacing. Chris began to use his telekinesis to throw demons against the cave wall, causing them to exploded into ash and disappear. His mother began to blow up demons in rapid succession. Paige was using her power to orb rocks at the demons to slow them down. Phoebe had taken a fighting stance, but had yet resume combat.

"I thought this was supposed to be a small clan," Paige whined, as a fireball grazed her shoulder. "What the heck is their idea of large?"

Nobody responded. The situation was just too dire. The demons were closing in an alarming rate, and Phoebe was suddenly not so sure that they would make it out of this alive. They needed a solution and fast.

She then remembered the power that Chris had displayed in the memory she had seen. She knew that it was the only way they were going to make it out of here alive. Now Phoebe just had to convince Chris to use a power that he had barely seemed to know he possessed.

"Paige, orb us out of here," said Piper, grabbing onto her sister's arm. "We'll never be able to finish the spell in time."

"No, wait! I have an idea," Phoebe said. "Chris?"

"Yeah?" he replied, using his power to lift another demon up into the air before throwing him against the rocky surface.

"We need your help," she replied earnestly.

"What do you think I'm doing?" he asked, using his power to hold some other demons from approaching.

"I need you to do that explosion thing you did," Phoebe said.

"What are you talking about?" he asked feigning confusion.

"You know what I mean. Do whatever it is that you did to escape this place," she commanded.

"Do you know what they're talking about?" Paige asked Piper.

"Not a clue," she said, still blowing up the approaching demons.

"But I didn't even vanquish him," said Chris, eyeing Zorac anxiously. His hold on the three demons he had shielded them against broke and they staggered towards them. With a sweep of his arm they were cast aside.

Phoebe let out a yelp as the demons nearly flew into her. She side stepped them and drew closer to Chris, hoping to reason with him. "You were just a scared kid then, Chris. You are a powerful adult now. I think you can do it."

"I don't know."

"Just try!" Phoebe shouted, ducking an energy ball. "We don't have much time."

Chris nodded. "I don't want to hurt any of you. The three of you need to orb out of here."

"We're not leaving you alone!" Piper told her son firmly.

"Can we get to the cave entrance?" Phoebe asked, knowing how powerful this explosion would be. Maybe they could take cover around the corridor.

"I don't think that's possible," said Paige, surveying the demons that were blocking their escape only a few feet away.

Chris sighed in frustration. "Then hit the deck!"

The sisters looked at one another in surprise before falling to the floor and covering their heads with their arms. Chris took a deep breath and held up his arms to telekinetically hold back the demons while he figured out how he was going to harness the explosive power he had used when he was only a kid. There were times he had tried to call upon it in the future when he was fighting off Wyatt's demons, but doing so had meant remembering that awful day when he had first learned to use it. He had never been able to reproduce the power since.

As he quickly thought about the memories he had suppressed, he remembered how helpless he had felt that day. Everything else he had tried in order to escape hadn't worked and he had been desperate to get away from the demon that was torturing him again. He wasn't sure how his explosive power worked exactly so he focused on what he had been feeling at the time he had first used it. His father always said that their powers were tied to their emotions.

He remembered feeling afraid, so horribly afraid. And alone, and anxious, and so very desperately ashamed of what was happening to him. But mostly he had been angry.

Angry that his mother had died, leaving him alone. Angry that he hadn't been strong enough to protect her. Angry that his father and brother hadn't responded to his many calls for help. Angry that he had been left alone to rot in this hell hole. Angry that he couldn't defend himself against his attacker. That rage had exploded from him a dazzling display of white light.

Remembering that all consuming anger, Chris allowed himself to feel it once more. He let the righteous fury consume him, fill every fiber of his being. He felt something stir within him and knew what he had to do to control his power. He took a deep breath and pulled his arms towards his body with great effort, drawing on the energy of his surroundings. He had the power of telekinesis, which was the ability to manipulate matter. He could influence it, but not cause it combust like his mother could. He realized now his explosive power must be an extension of his telekinesis. He could draw matter and energy, which were closely related, towards himself and then release it at an accelerated rate. The sheer velocity of the accelerated particles must have been enough to throw Zorac away from him. He figured that the white explosive light was simply manifestation of his whitelighter side combined with his witch power.

He hoped that he could reproduce that power now, but with a lot more force. He had to. He had a lot at stake. Everything he had sacrificed and worked towards the last six years had finally come down to this final moment.

The cave was enveloped in an odd rushing sound, which stopped the demons in their tracks. Everything seemed to bend inwards as the matter and energy in the cavern were pulled towards Chris. When he could contain it no longer, an explosion of white light erupted, crashing against the cave walls erratically. The amazing display of power had stopped as suddenly as it had began, leaving everything smoldering in its wake. Every single demon was vanquished simultaneously, erupting into flames. The piles of ashes left behind, where each one had been standing, was the only indication left that they had been here at all.

Sighing in relief Chris collapsed to his knees, shaking uncontrollably. The Charmed Ones slowly rose to their feet, amazed by the sheer power they had just witnessed. They saw the tears that were streaming down Chris' face and their hearts went out to him.

"You did it," said Paige hoping to reassure him. He nodded as he covered his face, still looking quite distraught. "_How_ did you do it?"

Chris wanted to explain to her that it was just an advanced form of his telekinesis and that he had been using his powers a lot longer than they had, but he couldn't find the words. He was still too shaken.

"That was an amazing display of power," said Phoebe, as she wrapped an arm around her nephew. "I knew you could do it."

Piper knelt down in front of her son and wrapped her arms around him as well. "I'm so proud of you," she said. "You vanquished all those demons and saved our future. Your brother won't be evil, we won't die, and you won't ever have come here…"

At this Chris let out one painful sob and brought up his arms around his mother, finally allowing himself to be comforted. She held onto him as Phoebe stepped back to join Paige.

"I'm sorry Mom…" he said finally, mumbling his apology into her long brown hair.

At first Piper was taken aback by Chris' use of that title. It was the first time he really acknowledged her for who she was. "For what?"

"That I didn't save you before," he said sadly.

"Honey, you were just a kid. I'd hardly expect you to save me. It should have been the other way… I'm sorry I died before I could save you," she said, her own eyes filling up with tears. "I hate that you went through all that and I don't even know what really happened."

They held onto one another for another few minutes, while Paige and Phoebe curiously scoped out the rest of the cave to make sure that they had vanquished every last demon. Now that they weren't fighting they could see just how unusual the cavern really was. For lack of a better word, it seemed almost civilized. Never before had they seen such an elaborate demon dwelling. They had been to hives, hide outs, demon bars, and markets before; but never had they been in something that they could call a "home."

They could see now that the large cavern they were standing in was some sort of makeshift house. The circular cavern was illuminated by several torches that lined the walls. In the center of the large space there seemed to be a meeting place of sorts, containing an odd assortment of mismatched chairs. There were also a large number of boulders that seemed to be used for additional seating or tables. Various papers and roughly drawn maps had been laid out on the surface of one flat boulder. There were areas clearly designated for storage that held clothing and weapons. And there was even a section that seemed to be used for the preparation of food. There were carcasses of several unknown creatures lying half-butchered on long slabs of rock and furs were drying on frames laid against the cave wall. Surrounding the entire room, were smaller caves. Deep recesses had been carved out of the rock to create sleeping quarters. Each one contained odd looking rugs, furs, or blankets made of rags on the stone floor.

There was only one other long corridor other than the main entrance, and Phoebe had a feeling that she knew where it would lead. She sensed pain coming from the darkened depths, but assumed she was simply remembering what she had felt in the memory she had witnessed.

It was easy to see why this clan's numbers would have grown in future years. Their systematic organization would probably have appealed to many other low level demons. Their sheer strength in numbers had been almost been enough to overwhelm them today.

Looking back at mother and son, Phoebe could see that both were much more composed now. "Are you ready to leave?" she asked.

Chris shook his head. "There's something I need to do first," he said, grabbing a torch from the cave wall as he approached the narrow corridor.

Phoebe suddenly knew what he wanted to do. "You don't have to do this," she said.

"Do what?" Paige asked.

"I have a bad feeling, Aunt Phoebe," he replied. "I need to be sure that there's no one else down there." Realizing her nephew was right; she nodded and began to follow him down the passageway.

Chris had gotten the sense during his own captivity that he had not been the first to be brought to the dungeon for such a hideous purpose. He was simply a prize taken after battle. Henry Jr., who had also been killed during the attack on the sisters, might have just as easily been taken if he hadn't died when he had gotten in the way.

"Where are they going?" Paige asked her older sister, wincing as she gently touched the burn on her shoulder.

"I don't know," Piper said quietly, following the other two curiously.

Chris made it halfway down the long corridor when he suddenly stopped. Phoebe could feel him trembling beside her and she reached out and took his hand into her own.

"You can do this," she said softly.

He continued on, dragging her along with them. Phoebe was beginning to wonder if the despair she was feeling was her own or if it belonged to someone else. She tried to sort through what she was feeling using her empathic abilities, but the emotions were so strong. She was almost certain that the feelings weren't coming from Chris, though he was visibly upset.

They soon reached the end of the corridor and stood in the cave entrance. Chris reached over and placed the torch in the wrought iron sconce. Together they surveyed the dungeon, noticing that it looked much as it did in the future. Then their eyes fell on the corner, and Phoebe gasped in surprised.

"Oh god," said Chris as he moved forward and fell to his knees in front of two small teenagers.

The boy and girl, though each chained to the wall, were huddled together in fear. Phoebe could see that they resembled each other enough to be brother and sister, the boy appearing to be slightly older. They were filthy, barely clothed, and were covered in cuts and bruises. It made Phoebe sick to her stomach to think what these pour little souls had been through. Unknowingly, she began to cry.

They saw Chris approaching and tried to move away but only managed to flatten themselves further against the cave wall. Paige and Piper soon arrived and saw that they were not alone.

Like her sister Piper gasped loudly at the sight before her. "Oh no," she said. "What are they doing here?"

Chris didn't reply. Instead he used his telekinesis to open the manacles bound to their wrists, wondering why this simple power hadn't worked when he had been in their position. He could only assume the chains were enchanted against the prisoner from escaping, but not from an outside magical source.

"It's okay," he said softly. "I'm a friend. We're here to rescue you."

Their haunted eyes turned to look at him but neither responded. They then looked past him and at the sisters, looking distrustful.

"Don't worry. We're not demons. They are all gone now," Piper said sweetly as she came to kneel beside Chris. "We're going to take you some place safe. Can you tell me your names?"

Neither the boy nor the girl replied and Phoebe wondered if they even knew how to talk anymore. It was clear that they had been here for a long while. They were still so scared and in so much pain… it was overwhelming. Both kids were near insane and she wasn't sure that if they were going to be able to do anything to help them. Phoebe staggered backwards, trying to get a hold of the emotions she was feeling. Paige caught her and noticed the tears cascading down her face.

"Are you alright?" Paige asked her.

Phoebe shook her head, sobbing now. Paige pulled her into a protective embrace, trying to shield her sister from what they are seeing.

"Can you stand?" Chris asked the two lost souls. He rose to his feet and pulled his mother up beside him.

They responded by simply standing up, albeit painfully, holding onto one another for support. The girl swayed on her feet and Chris reached out to catch her, but then saw the look her older brother gave him and stepped back.

"We need to get out of here," said his mother, "in case any more demons show up."

Chris nodded. "I'm going to take you some place safe, but I'm going to need you both to hold onto my hands," he said, offering his hand to them.

They flinched in response, expecting to be hurt, but Chris waited patiently with his hand out to show he meant them no harm.

"I'm going to use magic to get you out of here. You'll be surrounded by all of these pretty blue and white lights and you will feel as light as an angel. I promise it won't hurt. When we get to where we are going you will arrive in a beautiful Victorian home. There will be two other men there that will help heal you so you don't have to be in pain," he explained. "Do you understand?"

The brother and sister looked at one another anxiously and then back at Chris, silently communicating their consent. They took his hands and he quickly orbed them away leaving the sisters behind.

"Phoebe, why are you so upset?" Piper asked. "What happened here?"

"I- I can't… please, I just need to get out of here," she begged, still sobbing into Paige's shoulder.

Piper sighed in frustration. "Fine. Paige, take us home," she said, grabbing her sister's arm.

Paige nodded and they orbed away from the horrid scene, only one of them truly understanding the purpose of this hidden cave.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know. It was horrible of me to just leave it there, but this chapter was getting a little long and the scene was changing anyway. What did you think of the battle scene? Were any of you surprised that Chris wasn't the only one to be taken hostage by these demons? Those poor things. Let me know in a review!

A/N2: I had originally planned Chris to have the Elder power of lightning. But as I was writing the chapter 11, I realized that in my AU he would have not had that power in the unchanged timeline. Although the timeline has already begun to change (because Chris made Leo and Elder earlier than before), I figure that any new powers Chris would have wouldn't come into effect until he returns to the future. Much in the some way that the new memories he would acquire wouldn't occur until he returned. Does this make sense? As such I decided to give Chris a more advanced form of TK instead of an Elder power. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	14. Healing

**Chapter 14- Healing**

The Charmed Ones arrived to the attic to find Chris and LEO talking quietly. Leo and the two teenagers they rescued were no where to be found.

"What's going on? Where are the kids?" Piper asked, referring to the brother and sister that Chris was supposed to have brought here.

LEO looked to Chris as if to gauge how much to tell them. His son finally nodded and he said, "Leo is healing them in your bedroom."

"Why?" she asked in surprise.

"They needed some privacy," he replied quietly, not wanting to tell her that the nature of their injuries required healing in some discreet areas.

Phoebe, who had not stopped crying since they had found the kids, still looked quite distraught. "Excuse me," she said. She quickly left the attic and headed downstairs.

"Is she alright?" Piper asked her other sister.

"I don't know. She hasn't said much. She's probably just overwhelmed by everything right now," Paige replied with a shrug, wincing at the pain. She wondered how much more Phoebe knew about the situation than they did. Paige had her own suspicions about what happened, but for now she was keeping them to herself.

LEO noticed Paige's shoulder was injured and leaned forward to study it more closely. "Sorry I can't heal that for you. It looks like it hurts," he said, looking truly disappointed about his lack of powers for the first time. He had lived without them for so long he hadn't really missed them until he realized that he could really use them right about now.

"It's okay," Paige replied. "It's not bad. I can wait."

"Where's Wyatt?" asked Piper.

"Taking a nap," LEO replied. "You were gone a while so we gave him a bottle and put him down."

She nodded absentmindedly. "Did Chris tell you what happened?" she asked.

"A little. He only just got here."

"I'm guessing he only had time to tell you that we found innoncents," she surmised.

Chris nodded and said, "Pretty much."

"Well, did he tell you that the clan was much larger than we had anticipated?" Piper asked.

"No, he didn't," said LEO. "How large?"

"Pretty large. Maybe 50 demons, give or take. We soon ran out of potions and were overwhelmed every time we tried to read the spell. We almost didn't make it out of there alive," Paige explained.

LEO raised an eyebrow at this. "Then how did you?"

"Chris saved us," said Piper.

"Really, how?" he asked, turning to look at his son in amazement.

"He single handedly destroyed a dozen or more demons in a huge explosion," she replied, sounding proud once more.

"I didn't know you had a power like that."

Chris shrugged. "I really didn't either. It seems to be an advanced form of my TK. Kind of like a telekinetic blast, I guess."

"Well, whatever it is that you did, you saved us," Piper said, heaping the praise onto her son once more.

LEO clapped a hand on Chris's shoulder, looking quite proud as well. "You really did it, Chris. You saved the future!"

Chris smiled finally and said, "Yeah, I guess I did."

Unable to contain her own excitement, Paige threw her arms around Chris and pulled him into a hug, being careful not to jostle her injury more than necessary. "Aw… I always knew my nephew was special."

"You only just learned I was your nephew," he argued.

"Yeah, well, ever since then I just knew you were something special. You are quite a powerful being," she added. "You and your brother are going to give your mother hell, I just know it."

Everyone began to laugh, but their celebration was short lived.

Leo suddenly appeared in the attic doorway, looking grave. He rubbed his face tiredly as he surveyed their small group. He soon noticed that Paige's shoulder was injured and needed healing. He calmly walked over and began to heal her burn; his face still quite serious. Paige nodded to him in thanks and rubbed her shoulder to get out the remaining tension.

"Leo… what is it?" Piper asked. "Couldn't you heal them?"

He glanced at LEO and Chris before addressing his wife. "I healed them."

"Then what is it?" she implored.

Leo's eyes were glassy as he responded. "I… I was able to heal their physical wounds, but I think there are some emotional… mental… wounds that are just too deep." He knew from the nature of their injuries just how awful their captivity had been.

"What do you mean?" asked Paige, fearing the worst.

"I suspect that they have been held captive for a very long time. Neither one will speak to me. Not even to tell me their names."

"They wouldn't speak to us either," said Piper.

"They're in a near catatonic state. They haven't moved a muscle since I healed them and seem unable to deal with their new surroundings," Leo continued to explained. "Phoebe is down there now trying to get them to talk."

Phoebe had seemed so distraught when she left that Piper was surprised that she was trying to help the siblings in their care. She figured Phoebe had gone down to her room to be by herself.

"That's awful," said Paige. "What are we going to do with them if we don't even know who they are?"

"That's a good question," said Leo.

"Maybe we should contact Darryl and see if the siblings match any missing person's reports," suggested Piper.

"That's a good idea, but in the mean time what do we do with them?" Leo asked.

"Why can't they just stay here?" Piper asked. "They're innocents. I am not going to just throw them out on the streets after what they've been through, are you?"

Leo was quick to respond. "Of course not, Piper. I just think that they need more care than we are capable of giving."

LEO and Chris had been quiet through the entire exchange. LEO whispered something in his son's ear and Chris shook his head vehemently. LEO whispered something to him once more and he nodded after a moment's hesitation. Chris then quietly left the room without another word.

"I think you should bring them to Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute," said LEO, when Chris had left.

"What?" they all asked in surprise.

"Langley Porter," he said once more. "It's here in San Francisco. Ask for Dr. Kim Stevens. I think she began to work there around this time."

"I know Kim," Leo said in surprise. "She's a former charge of mine. She's a future whitelighter."

LEO nodded. "She'll be able to help them without exposing magic."

"What makes you think she can help them?" Paige asked.

"She's a psychiatric doctor. She'll be able to help them recover from the trauma they have experienced. It's the least we can do until we discover their identities and can return them to their family."

"How do you know about all of this?" Piper asked suspiciously.

LEO seemed to hesitate. "Like Leo said, she's a former charge."

"Those poor kids. I just feel so awful for them, you know? Why were they down there anyway?" asked Paige, seeking to understand.

When no one else responded, LEO carefully said, "I imagine that this clan of demons may have been taking human hostages for years."

"But why? For what purpose?" Piper asked in confusion. "Even if those kids are witches, what would the demons gain by keeping them prisoner? If its power they are seeking than why not just kill them after they've gotten what they needed. What leverage could they possibly have in keeping them?"

No one said anything in response. Both Leo's already knew the answer to that question and Paige had her own suspicions.

"Piper…" Leo said slowly. "Sometimes beings are just evil. There probably wasn't some sort of plot to gain power. Their reasons for keeping them could have just been… more personal."

Piper looked to him in confusion and then slowly realization dawned on her face.

"Oh God… you don't mean… no. No! NO! That couldn't have happened… those poor babies…" she cried.

Paige wrapped her arms around her sister as her suspicions were confirmed. Piper brushed her off irritably when she began to connect the pieces together.

"Wait! That couldn't have happened because….because, because that would mean that Chris was…. Oh no," said Piper, finally dissolving into tears. "My baby… my poor, poor baby."

"Piper…" said Leo, reaching out for his wife's hand. "We don't know anything for sure."

"No, but he does!" she said, pointing at LEO. "That cave we found the kids in. That's where Chris was taken, wasn't it?"

"I don't know… I didn't find him there…" LEO said, his eyes shining now.

"But you know what happened to him!"

"Piper-" LEO tried to calm her.

"You healed him. You must know!"

LEO nodded miserably.

"Did they hurt him like they hurt those poor kids?" she asked, her voice tight with emotion. "Well did they?"

"Yes," he said softly, wiping away a stray tear. "And not a day has gone by that I haven't regretted leaving you both alone that day."

Piper began to sob and turned into Leo for comfort. Paige was sniffling sadly, trying to make sense of everything she was hearing.

"That's why Phoebe has been so upset; she knew what happened to him from that memory," said Paige. It was more of a statement than a question.

LEO nodded miserably.

"That's what you meant when you said Chris wasn't doing well after the attack," said Leo, still trying to understand. "You said Wyatt stopped visiting Chris. You meant at Langley, didn't you?"

LEO nodded once more, feeling as though he had betrayed his son even though he had gotten Chris's consent to reveal all of this to them if necessary. It was the only way either of them could think of to save the siblings from the mental anguish they were still going through.

"How could we have let this happen?" Piper cried.

"I'm sorry… so so sorry…" LEO implored.

Seeing how dejected LEO looked right now, Piper knew that she couldn't blame him for anything that had happened. He was hurting just as much as they were. She left her current husband's side and reached out for his future counterpart. She wrapped her arms around LEO and held on tight, knowing that this was what he needed right now.

"I'm so sorry…" he said once more, burying his face in her hair.

"It's okay…" she whispered, shushing him quietly.

"Piper, I'm going to pay Kim a visit and see if she'll come assess the kid's situation," said Leo, trying to compose himself and give her time with LEO.

Piper nodded, her arms never leaving LEO, and watched the other man orb away. She knew Leo was upset and was dealing with it by staying busy. Piper held the angel in her embrace tightly, letting him lament his anguish. It had been three long days since the spell had brought LEO here and turned their world upside down, and she could only imagine what he had gone through. First realizing he had been saved from imprisonment by his own son, reuniting with Chris, and then helping them understand the truth of what happened to their family in the future. She wondered how many painful memories LEO had suffered through since being here in the past. Her heart went out to him and she prayed that her wonderful husband would find comfort when he finally returned to the future.

LEO finally pulled back, and Piper gave him a reassuring smile. She sought out her sister and saw that Paige had crossed the room to give them so privacy. She seemed to be busying herself with putting away the potion ingredients they had used earlier.

"Let's go down and see how Phoebe is doing with the kids. She may need some help," said Piper to her sister.

Paige nodded, sniffling slightly, and followed her older sister and brother-in-law down to the second floor. They were all teary eyed and blotchy faced from crying, but that couldn't be helped just now. They walked to the master bedroom and found Chris standing in the doorway, leaning against its frame.

"Phoebe's trying to get them to shower," he explained, not making eye contact.

They peered around the doorway. They could see the siblings fearfully huddled together on the bed with two piles clothes next to them, presumably borrowed from Piper and Leo's wardrobe. Now that they could observe them in proper lighting, they could see the poor things were horribly emaciated, something Leo could not have healed. They were both a shell of whoever they used to be, retreating in themselves in order to survive their horrific ordeal. Thankfully they seemed to recognize and find comfort in each other.

Phoebe was standing in the master bathroom trying to coax them into the small room. "C'mon, it's really nice in here. You can get cleaned up and start to feel better. I've got clean clothes for you too," she said.

When they didn't follow her, she carefully grabbed the clothing she had set out so as not to startle them, and placed it into the bathroom. She then grabbed a couple of new toothbrushes from the linen closet. "Don't you want to brush your teeth?" she asked as she turned on the faucet. "Look at the nice cool water…"

That seemed to get the brother and sister's attention. They jerked their heads towards the sound of running water like it was too good to be true. They then hesitantly stumbled towards the bathroom, and pushed past Phoebe, who let out a startled gasp. When they reached the sink they each began to lap at the water by drinking it from their hands. They apparently hadn't had fresh water in a very long time. Relieved to see the kids responding to something finally, Phoebe turned on the shower and let the water run until it was warm. She then quietly closed the door behind her to give them some privacy.

"How's it going?" Piper asked.

Phoebe looked up at the small gathering outside the door in surprise, having not noticed their presence while helping the siblings. "Not good. They haven't said a word. That was the first response I've gotten from them."

"Do you think it's okay that we left them alone in there?" Paige asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Piper, entering her own room. LEO and Paige followed behind.

"Just that they are teenagers… and apparently brother and sister. Should we be concerned that they might be showering together? I mean… not that anything would happen… but just, is that right?" she asked, stumbling over her words.

"I think that's the least of our worries," said Phoebe, looking as though she had another headache coming on. She rubbed her temples tiredly. "I don't think we could separate them right now if we tried. I hate to think what they must have gone through…"

"Leo is getting help," Piper interjected.

"From where? Who?"

"A doctor that used to be his charge," she said simply, glancing toward Chris, who hadn't moved or said any thing else since they arrived in the bedroom.

"Can he help?"

"I think _she_ can," said LEO.

"Oh," said Phoebe simply.

"We should probably contact Darryl as well," said Paige. "I'm going to go give him a call and explain the situation. Hopefully they're on a missing persons report and we can locate their family."

"Good idea," said Piper, nodding as her youngest sister left to call their friend. Phoebe had sat down on the bed and Piper joined her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Phoebe. "It's just hard to deal with their emotions…" She looked toward the closed bathroom door and her eyes filled with tears once more. "They're still so scared."

"I know, honey. But we're going to help them," said Piper, taking her sister's hand into her own. She gave it a squeeze and smiled at Phoebe reassuringly.

Silence found its way into the room, only increasing the obvious tension. The only sound that could be heard was the faint hum of the shower just a few meters away. LEO shifted uncertainly and crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at his feet. Piper chanced another glance in her son's direction, still reeling from the news she had learned only moments before.

"You know, don't you?" Chris asked, finally meeting her gaze. His eyes were filled with consternation.

Piper nodded as her son grunted in frustration. Before she could say another word he had orbed away. She stood up and was going to demand that LEO tell her where Chris might have gone, but was cut off when he began to shake his head.

"But you don't even know what I was going to say!" she argued.

"Yes, I do… you want know where Chris went so you can go to him, but that's not what he needs right now," LEO responded.

"What does he need?"

"A little space."

Piper sighed in aggravation and knew that LEO was probably right. Besides, there were other important matters to deal with right now. She left the room to go to her sanctuary… the kitchen.

Left with nothing else to do she made some sandwiches and placed them on a tray. She filled two glasses with milk and grabbed an assortment of fruit. She then carried everything upstairs to her bedroom.

By then Phoebe had managed to coax the brother and sister into the clothes once they finished their long shower. The jumped at the food and wolfed everything down in silence, still wary of the others presence.

Leo had arrived with Kim and they left them alone while she did a preliminary evaluation on the kids. In the end it was agreed that the siblings would need to be hospitalized, at least temporarily, until they could indentify their families.

Darryl also arrived with a book full of missing person's reports, but they were still unable to figure out who the brother and sister were. Darryl assured them that he would keep searching, pulling reports from neighboring counties or states if necessary.

Confident that they would be cared for properly, they released the kids into Kim's care. Leo orbed them to Langley and had refused to leave until they were properly admitted. It wasn't the best of situations, but it was all they could for now.

When Piper was sure that they had done all they could do, she immediately turned her attention back to her son. "Where's Chris? Can you sense him?" she asked her husband when he returned once more.

Leo closed his eyes and nodded. "He's-"

"Send me to him," Piper commanded.

Leo sighed. "I don't know if you'd want to go-"

"Just send me. Now!"

Leo smiled at her mischievously and raised his hand to orb her to Chris.

Piper suddenly found herself staring out across San Francisco Bay. The fierce wind swept her hair off her shoulder, blowing her long tresses out behind her. She felt as thought she was standing in the clouds. Unsure of where she was at, she glanced down and saw a strip of cars a hundred feet below her. She gasped in surprise. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Chris sitting there with his feet dangling over the edge.

"Whoa, where are we?" asked Piper, as she swayed on her feet. She took a few steps back and then glanced over her shoulder wondering if that was such a wise decision. It was a good thing she hadn't gone any further. As it was she was still at risk of plummeting to her death. The strip of metal she was standing on was fairly narrow, maybe a couple yards wide.

"Piper, what are you doing here?" Chris asked, standing up quickly and coming to her side.

"Where's here?"

"The Golden Gate Bridge."

"Oh, that makes sense," she said, noticing for the first time the distinctive paint color and the beams that radiated away from the tower she was standing upon.

"And why are you here?" she asked, feeling a bit dizzy.

"I like to come here to think," he stated simply, grabbing her arm when she seemed to sway once more.

"Why?"

"Dunno. Just do."

"Can we talk? Please," she pleaded, looking up at him earnestly.

"I guess," said Chris, rather reluctantly. "Do you want to go some place else?"

She nodded. "Yes, please."

He then orbed her to a beautiful garden setting, which Piper soon recognized to be apart of Golden Gate Park. She watched as her son took in the surroundings, smiling wanly. He took a seat on one of the stone benches and gestured for her to sit beside him.

"Why here?" she asked curiously.

He shrugged and brushed his hair off his forehead. "Good memories."

"With Bianca?" she inferred.

Chris looked at her in surprise. "Yes, but how did you know?"

She shrugged, unsure of how she had known herself. "A mother's Intuition, I guess… I'm sorry about what happened to her."

"Me too."

"It was Wyatt that killed her, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Chris replied, his voice thick with emotion.

"But we changed that, right?" she asked hopefully. "We killed the demons that cause Wyatt to become evil so he won't kill her in the future. Right?"

"I guess."

"Then what's wrong?" Piper asked, sensing her son was still at ease.

"What if she was destined to die then anyway?"

"You can't think like that Chris. Nothing in the future is certain, that's why it can be changed."

"But even if she doesn't die, it won't be the same."

"What do you meant?"

"I met Bianca because Wyatt was evil. He hired her services to come after me… if he isn't evil in the future than we will never meet. It'll be like it never was."

"If it's meant to be then it will be," Piper said, her voice full of conviction.

"I hope it will," he said softly, glancing around the garden once more.

Piper reached over and took her son's hand in her own. He stared at the way their hands were intertwined, looking quite unsure of himself. "I'm sorry, Chris. I didn't mean to dredge up any painful memories for you."

"Then why did you?" he asked, his green eyes searching her brown ones.

"I just want to talk to you… I didn't mean for our conversation to turn that direction."

"Then what direction did you want it to go?"

Piper paused uncertainly and seemed to choose her words. What she had to say wasn't going to be any easier. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Chris sighed heavily already realizing the direction this conversation was going. "About what?"

"Any of it… about who you are, what happened in the future, what happened to you… why did you keep it all a secret? Didn't you trust me?" she asked, sounding quite hurt. And deep inside she was. Her son hadn't thought enough of her to trust her with this important information. She had had to figure it out though some very unconventional means.

"It's not that," Chris insisted. "You wouldn't have believed me, anyway."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, I do. You were…are… I mean, will be my mother. I think I know exactly how you would have reacted. You would've sent me away, refused to listen."

That did sound a lot like how she would have reacted. "Maybe, at first. But I would've come around eventually."

"I didn't have that kind of time."

"But still…"

"Listen, it's hard to talk about, okay? I didn't even talk to Dad about most of this stuff until yesterday. It's not something I enjoy talking about."

Piper felt her eyes fill with tears and she reached up to wipe away few stray tears that had already begun to fall. "I'm so sorry that you went through any of that."

"I didn't remember a lot if it until recently. I kind of forced myself to block it out in order to survive," he began. "I carried around a darkness inside of me for a long while. I could have just easily turned evil. But when I saw what it was doing to Wyatt and I realized that it's not what you would have wanted for us. Above all else I wanted to make you proud."

"And I am proud of you!" Piper insisted. "Look at all the good you have done."

"You wouldn't say that if you knew some of the awful things I've done."

"Honey, nobody's perfect," she said. "I'm sure that you did what you had to do in order to survive."

Chris nodded, but didn't say anything more on the subject. Piper so badly wanted him to tell her more, but then thought better of it. It wouldn't do dwell on the past when it was clear Chris had worked so hard to overcome it all.

"What happens when you go back to the future? Will you remember any of it?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," Chris responded with a shrug. "I guess I'll find out soon."

"Really? You're ready to go back?"

"Why not?"

"It's just… I only just found out you were my son and now I feel like you are going to be leaving me. You are, aren't you?"

"As soon as I can."

"But why? What's the rush?"

"This isn't my time. I don't belong here," he explained.

"But you've been in the past for months and months now. What could it hurt to stay a little longer?"

"I just need to see it myself."

"See what?"

"The future. I need to know that it's really changed. That I really accomplished what I set out to do."

"Can't you wait just a few more days?"

"I don't know if I can. If nothing's changed then I need to come up with a new plan," he said wearily.

"You won't need to. I know we changed it."

"Still…"

"How about a week?"

"Huh?"

"Give me one week. Please," she begged, squeezing his hand. "I only just found you. I don't want to lose you yet."

Chris smiled. "Fine, one week. No more."

Piper returned the smile. "One week," she stated once more, feeling relieved.

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A/N: That was my longest chapter yet (well for this story at least). I hope you like how I resolved things with the teenagers they rescued. Only one chapter left to go! Please review!


	15. Homecoming

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A/N: This last chapter is dedicated to my beta _**Alcandre**_, as well as my faithful reviewers who reviewed nearly every chapter: _**CelticHeiressFiona**__**, **__**AshleyMarieHalliwell**__**, **__**sailor cyanide**__**, **__**moonfoot13**__**, **__**charlie-becks**__**, **__**FirePony16**__**, and **__**Star Mage1**_. Thanks again!

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Chapter 15- Homecoming

The week that followed was one of the best in Chris's life. He couldn't remember ever feeling as relaxed, safe, or as happy as he had been in the last week.

There were happy memories from his childhood, of course, but they had been later shadowed by the darkness that had come after the event that had changed their lives. Since then, Chris had been barely coping with the world falling apart around him, always striving to do what's good no matter the sacrifice.

But now… now he was free. Free from the pain, anger, and fear. Free from his brother's tyranny and his family's lost legacy. Free from his horrific past, that seemed to have stayed with him no matter how much he had tried to forget. Free to do whatever he wanted, within reason of course. He had his mother to deal with now.

Piper… _Mom_.

His relationship with his mother was something he was still trying to get used to. When he had first come to the past he had forced himself to keep the two separate in his mind, though his heart knew they were essentially the same person. Since she had discovered his true identity they had slowly melded into one.

Chris had thought that it would be too hard to accept her as his mother. There was no way of knowing if she would be in the future when he returned, and he thought it would hurt too much to lose her all over again. For all he knew, it could have just been her time to die. What if defeating Zorac hadn't saved her after all? It was something he was still struggling to deal with. But he finally decided that the old adage was probably correct, "It is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all." It was certainly true when he thought about Bianca, and he felt it was probably true of his mother.

Chris and LEO had spent the last week with the family, getting to know them… well getting to know these younger versions of them. There were many family meals, trips to the zoo and the carnival, walks to the park, and time spent hanging out at P3. Chris knew his mother was trying to pack a life time of memories into a single week, but honestly what he enjoyed most was the quiet moments he spent with them. He took great pleasure in baking with his mom, listening to Phoebe typing away on her laptop while he read a magazine nearby, hearing about Paige's misadventures at her temp jobs, reminiscing about "old times" with LEO, and playing blocks with Wyatt.

Most surprisingly of all was how much he enjoyed talking to Leo about his past life and how he became a doctor and later a whitelighter. Over the course of the last few days, Leo had begun to hang around the Manor more and more, until he finally moved back in completely. It was understood by all that it meant Piper and Leo were back together, which made Chris surprisingly happy.

His relationship with his father in the future had always been tense. Chris had long held a grudge against him, truly feeling as though LEO had never really been there for him. Now he was seeing how wrong he had been all along. His father had only done what he thought was best for his son, and Chris had unknowingly came out better because of it. He didn't know if he would be as strong as he was today had his father not intervened and sent Chris to Langley to get the help that he had needed. He felt rather guilty for judging him so harshly for so long. But a lot had changed. Free of his past and the burdens he had carried for so long, Chris was actually enjoying spending time with both Leo's.

The week passed quickly and before too long it was time for Chris and LEO to return home… to the future.

The Charmed Ones, Leo, and Wyatt all gathered to send the pair off. A large triquetra was drawn in white chalk on one of the attic walls, and the spell was ready. Now all they had to do was say goodbye.

"I can't believe you're leaving," Paige said sadly. "I wish we had known who you were sooner."

"I know," said Chris quietly.

"Do you really have to go so soon?" Phoebe whined.

LEO smiled sadly and looked to his son. "It's time…" he said.

"Speaking of time… what about Chris… when do we-" Piper began, feeling awkward about having to have this conversation. She shifted Wyatt to her other hip.

"Don't worry," he said, cutting her off. "You'll know when the time is right."

"But he needs to be conceived!" she argued. "Can't you at least give me a time frame?"

"You wanna know when you should have sex?" Paige asked. "Just go at it when the mood strikes you."

"Ew… gross! We're so not having this conversation!" Chris shouted in disgust.

"It'll be okay, Piper," said Leo, taking her hand into his own and giving her a reassuring smile.

She smiled back, feeling more at ease and knowing that were getting back on track. She had never felt quite right about how their marriage had dissolved when Leo became an elder and she hoped that they could continue to make things work.

"Well, we should probably get going," LEO reminded them. "We've delayed this long enough."

Chris nodded in agreement. He was eager to see how the future turned out. He needed to know that Wyatt was good and that the sisters, Henry Jr, and himself had been saved from that fateful day. He couldn't imagine what all of them would like nine years older than when he last some them. Then there was the rest of the family. They had died one by one because of Wyatt's regime and he was eager to see them as well.

Phoebe was the first to reach out to them to say goodbye. She took LEO in her arms first and whispered, "Take care of him."

"I will," LEO responded, hugging his sister-in-law tightly.

She then turned towards Chris and wrapped her arms around. "Oooohh… I'm so going to miss you. I wish I had known you were my nephew sooner. Piper kept you so busy this week that I didn't get a chance to spoil you. I could have taken you shopping and we could have gone for ice cream and-"

"That's enough," said Paige. "You never seem to remember how old the poor boy is."

Paige removed Phoebe from her bearlike grasp of Chris and took her place. "I don't want to say goodbye," she pouted.

"You don't have to," said Chris. "I'll be seeing you soon."

"For you maybe, but I have to wait twenty three years!" she complained as she pulled back.

Paige then hugged LEO and did her best to put a smile on her face, though she was feeling awfully sad inside about their departure.

Piper and Leo stepped forward and each took Chris by a hand. He stared at them with watery eyes, not sure of what to say. Instead he turned his attention to his brother who was cradled in their mother's arms.

"Bye little big brother… be nice for mommy," he said, shaking baby Wyatt's hand. His brother cooed in response.

"I'm going to miss you…" Piper began, sniffling slightly.

"_Mom_," Chris whined, knowing that this was about to get mushy.

"Let me say my piece," she warned. "I don't know if I told you yet, but I love you. I truly do. I'm so proud of what you have done for this family and I hope your future is everything you want it to be. You deserve it after everything you've been through."

Chris felt himself get choked up and managed to mutter, "I love you too, Mom." He then turned to his father feeling a little nervous.

Leo smiled and said, "I love you as well son. And I know we were rather hard on you…I'm sorry about that."

"You already apologized," Chris reminded him.

"I know, but I hope you won't hold it against us in the future. I'd like to get to know my son better."

"I won't… and I love you too," he managed to say.

Leo then reached for his future self's hand and gave it a shake, not knowing what else to do. It's not like he could exactly say goodbye to himself. That would be too weird.

Piper in turn took LEO into an embrace and whispered in his ear. "I love you and I will be waiting for you in the future."

"I hope so," he whispered back, praying that it was true. He couldn't bear it if she wasn't. He then placed an affectionate kiss on Wyatt's forehead and caressed his chubby face, trying to memorize his son at this age. It was hard to believe that he would be reunited with twenty-five year old version in only a matter of minutes.

"I guess this is it then," said Chris, surveying his family once more.

They all nodded, not knowing what else to say. Chris pulled the spell out from his pocket and turned to where they had drawn the triquetra on the attic wall.

"Are you sure you don't want us to read the spell?" Paige asked once more.

"That's alright. I didn't need the Power of Three to get here, so I'm assuming that it's not necessary to get home," he explained.

She nodded, though she still looked reluctant about the whole thing.

"_Hear these words, hear the rhyme,"_ Chris began to chant, _"Heed the hope within my mind. Send us back to where we'll find, What we wish in place and time."_

The triquetra glowed bright blue and the time portal opened. Chris and LEO waved to the others and stepped through the portal. They were dizzily transported to the future and they stepped out of the portal to find themselves still in the attic, but many years later.

Standing in a semi-circle waiting for them was the entire family. Chris and Leo nearly cried in relief, and their heart swelled with the knowledge that they had truly changed the future. Paige and Henry were there with the twins and Henry Jr. Phoebe and Coop had their three girls with them, all looking as beautiful as their mother. Even Grandpa Victor was there, looking frail in his old age. He must have heeded the warning Chris had left with the sisters and stopped smoking. Most welcoming of all though were the smiles coming from Piper and Wyatt, who looked almost too "good" to be true with a stylish short hair cut and designer clothes.

But the most surprisingly thing was that Chris and Leo found themselves staring at… _themselves_. Their carbon copies were standing there watching them hesitantly. Confused by what was happening, Leo was about to ask about it when he suddenly felt himself "zoom" across the room. Chris apparently had done the same and they quickly morphed with the present Leo and Chris with a warm orange glow. Time had apparently caught up to them.

Perplexed by this unexpected turn of events, Leo felt his head begin to ache. Before he could understand what was happening, both he and Chris slid to the floor into unconsciousness.

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Over an hour later Leo blearily opened his eyes to find a much older version of Piper smiling down at him.

"Welcome home," she said softly, placing a chaste kiss on his forehead.

Leo blinked a few more times, before sitting up slowly. His head felt _heavy_, for lack of a better word. Looking at his surroundings he saw that he was in their master bedroom. Chris was lying beside him, still out cold.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly.

"Alright, I guess."

"What do you remember?"

Leo sighed tiredly and rubbed his aching temples. "Everything," he said quietly.

"Um… you have to be a bit more specific than that," said Piper looking unsure of what else to say.

"I remember both timelines."

"Oh."

"I don't understand why," he said, feeling frustrated. "I'm no expert at time travel, but I didn't think the elders would allow us to remember both timelines. I thought my previous memories would fade somehow."

"Maybe they still will," Piper said hopefully, knowing the horrors her poor husband had faced the first time around.

"Somehow I don't think they will."

Beside him Chris groaned and rolled over. He peeked an eye open and saw his mother and father staring at him expectantly. He sat up slowly and rubbed his head.

"I would ask how you were feeling, but it appears you look how I feel," Leo said hoarsely.

"My head hurts… it's the strangest sensation. I almost feel as though I'm hung over," he moaned. "What happened?"

"You passed out," said his mother, coming around to his side of the bed and putting a hand to his forehead.

"Yeah, I got that. Why do I have two sets of memories?" Chris said in frustration.

Leo replied, "We don't know."

"You don't look so good. Maybe I should make you something to eat," said Piper.

Chris nodded and said, "Food sounds good."

"I need to finish making the food for the party anyway." She turned to walk away when Chris suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. "What is it?" she asked, seeing the serious look on his face.

"You're really here…" he whispered. "You're alive…"

She smiled and leaned down to caress his face lovingly. "Of course I am. You saved me."

Chris returned the smile and then stood up. He wrapped his arms around his mother and squeezed her tightly, lifting her off the ground. "Chris!" she complained. "Stop. Put me down!"

"Sorry, but I've missed you," he replied, setting his mother down.

"But you just saw me an hour ago… in both timelines," she said.

"I know… but I remember a time when you weren't here. And now you are… I'm just," he paused, trying to think of the right word, "happy."

"I'm glad," she said her smile brightening even more. "You deserve every bit of happiness in the world."

Chris watched her walk away and noticed her appearance for the first time. Although he had memories of his mother from this timeline, he never paid much attention to how she looked until now. Chris drunk her image in, burning the way she looked at this age into his memory.

Piper's hair was much shorter than in 2004, cut in a neat bob that framed her face nicely. It was just starting to gray, giving her a distinguished look that suited her somehow. There were faint lines around the edges of her eyes and at the corners of her mouth, signaling that she was now middle aged. She was slightly heavier than before, but not overly so. She wore a neat plaid wool skirt that brushed her knees and a beige sweater that complimented it well. She seemed more stylish now as well, wearing a pair of knee high brown boots and a pair of hoop earrings. Overall, she was rather lovely.

"You okay, son," Leo asked, watching his son closely.

"I'm great," he said, a smile spreading across his face.

"Are you disappointed that your memories from before weren't erased?" he asked.

Chris thought about this for a while and finally shook his head. "It wouldn't be right somehow to have forgotten it all. I almost feel like I need to remember to ensure that something like that won't ever happen again. Do you know what I mean?"

"I do, son. I do."

The pair went downstairs and were quickly greeted by the rest of the family once more. It was rather strange. They had all grown up and lived with Chris and Leo all their lives, but they were treating them as if they had come back from a long voyage. In some ways they had, even if it were a distant memory now.

The party that was planned was soon underway. The house was decorated with streamers and balloons, the dining room table was filled with food, and the music was loud and upbeat. The Morrises had been invited over, as well as some magical families they had gotten close to over the years. They were celebrating more than the "return" of Chris and Leo. They were celebrating the fact that they had all been saved from a terrible fate.

Wyatt was a little more than subdued, understandably. Chris found him outside staring at the stars.

"Hey Wy," said Chris.

"Hey Chris," said Wyatt, turning to his little brother and forcing a smile on his face.

"You okay?" he asked.

"It's just hard to believe some times…" Wyatt confessed. "I have no memories of ever being evil and having done any of those awful things, but I know it must have happened."

The boys had been told about what occurred in the original timeline when they were older and their parents felt they could handle it. Both Chris and Wyatt had been utterly shocked. They had grown up having only ever known peace, besides the occasional demon attack, of course. It was difficult trying to understand how different their lives could have been. The cousins were eventually told as well and they had all waited for this day when the original Leo and Chris would return from the past.

"It happened," said Chris. "Believe me."

"I know and I do believe you. Everything Mom and Dad said would happen came true. You and that other version of Dad came out of the portal just as they said you would," he said, turning to face the stars once more. "Do you really remember everything from that other timeline?"

Chris nodded, unsure of what else to say.

Wyatt sighed. "I'm sorry then."

"For what?"

"For all the pain I caused you… I don't know what really happened, but I do know that I was the cause. So for that I'm sorry," he replied, sounding truly despondent.

"Don't be," Chris said earnestly. "_You_ didn't do anything wrong. You've been the best big brother a guy could have."

"Oh yeah?" Wyatt asked.

"Sure," Chris replied, smiling now. "Of course, you could make it up to me by letting me drive that fancy sports car of yours."

Wyatt shook his head laughing. "Not going to happen. I told you when I bought it that you weren't allowed to drive it."

"Why not?"

"You crashed your car the first week after you got it," Wyatt reminded him.

"Oh yeah."

"Besides you can orb any time you want to."

"So can you!"

"Yeah, but it's not as fun."

"I'll bet," said Chris. "So you wanna go back in there and enjoy yourself, or what?"

"I guess," said Wyatt agreeably, following his brother inside.

Chris scanned the house once more looking for someone in particular, but couldn't find her anywhere. He wasn't really surprised. This sort of thing just wasn't her style. Chris decided that he needed to see her right away and went in search of his mother.

"Where is she?" Chris asked.

"She didn't know if you wanted her to be here when you both arrived," Piper said, knowing who he meant. "She thought it might make you uncomfortable."

"I want to see her."

Piper smiled. "I thought you might."

"Where is she?"

"I think you already know," his mother replied.

Chris nodded and orbed away, first to his room upstairs and then to the gardens of Golden Gate Park. He walked along the pathway admiring the flower beds and ornate ponds until he found the circular courtyard that was their "place." It was surrounded by large columns topped with hanging plants. It hadn't existed in the alternate future, having been destroyed by Wyatt's demons, but here it was now in all of its beautiful splendor.

In the center of the courtyard sat Bianca on one of the stone benches. She was wearing a soft blue dress and her beautiful brown hair was curled into long waves that framed her lovely face. She was absolutely breathtaking. Chris quickly crossed the distance between them and Bianca stood up to greet him.

"I wasn't sure if you'd come," she whispered, placing a kiss on his lips.

"Of course I would. Why wouldn't I?" he asked, embracing her tightly.

"I wasn't sure you'd come back to me. You have all these new memories now and I wasn't sure what happened before between us," Bianca said quickly. "I didn't know if anything had changed."

"Nothing has changed between us," Chris reassured her. "I still love you, more than ever."

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"Really."

She sighed in relief. "I love you too."

Chris smiled and picked her up, twirling her around in a circle. He was so overcome with happiness that she was alive in this timeline that he couldn't wait any longer. He set her down and then took a step back. He then went down on bended knee and pulled out the small box he had retrieved from his room before coming here.

In this time line he had already decided upon proposing to Bianca, but hadn't found the right time to do it yet. Armed with the memories of his previous life, Chris couldn't think of a better time than this.

"Will you marry me?" he asked, opening the box to show her the engagement ring inside.

**Bianca looked completely shocked.**** "**You're asking me now?"

"Mm-hm."

**"**Here?" she asked, looking very pleased.

"This is still our spot, Bianca. It always will be. Marry me," he pleaded, already knowing her answer.

**"**On one condition," she said coyly. "You never time travel again. I couldn't bear it if you left me."

"Have I ever let you down before?"

"Then yes… yes I'll marry you!" she said excitedly.

Chris stood up quickly and kissed his fiancé fiercely. He then embraced her tightly, twirling her around once more.

Nothing could be more right in this new world.

THE END

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A/N: I've never been a big Bianca fan. In fact, I can barely stomach her, but I wanted to honor her place in Chris' life and stay somewhat true to canon in this very AU story. Some of the dialogue in the final scene was taken directly from the episode "Chris Crossed." This final chapter certainly wasn't my best but I like the way it turned out, sappy ending and all.

I hope you enjoyed reading this little story. If haven't reviewed yet, I'd love to hear from you. And if you already reviewed, I'd like to hear from you again. Many thanks to all of your wonderful reviews.


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